A DEVOTED couple who first met on a blind date have marked a very special anniversary.

Les and Sylvia Binns, of Woodbridge, celebrated 60 years of marriage yesterday. The loving couple first met in Gosport in Hampshire when Mr Binns was stationed in the sick berth of the town’s naval hospital.

Some friends suggested that they go on a blind date and the pair have been together ever since. After two years of courting they married on April 12, 1952.

Mr Binns, 81, who has been mayor of Woodbridge three times and is a serving town and district councillor, said he put their success down to working together as a team. “It’s no use saying you don’t have disagreements because you do,” he said. “But you get over them, it’s part and parcel of life. We work together.”

The couple moved to Suffolk in 1972, when Mr Binns became the first male matron at Ipswich Hospital. The lived on the grounds of the former Foxhall Hospital - now the private Nuffield Hospital - before moving to Woodbridge in the early 1980s.

Mrs Binns, 79, who worked in a children’s home as well as a card shop and restaurant, continued: “We have always shared everything and always done a lot together. However you also have to have your own interests and hobbies. We have pulled together when there have been problems and always talked things out.” Mr and Mrs Binns have two grown up sons, Mark, who works for Willis Faber in Ipswich, and Stephen, who works for British Aerospace in Portsmouth, and five grand children.

The couple celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary on Sunday with a meal at Seckford Hall.

They are also planning a holiday to Croatia - although they are hoping it is quieter than the last time they went. “When we visited 10 years ago the war broke out,” Mr Binns said. “Hopefully this time around it will be more relaxing.”