Golden couple celebrate 50 years of marriage

Edna and Paul Shepherd worked in the same upholstery factory in Croydon but hadn't met until a friend of Paul's snatched Edna's clocking out card and ran up the road with it as a joke.

Edna chased after him and when Paul saw her running, he decided to ask her for a date. They went to the cinema and dated for two years, were engaged for two years and married in Croydon.

Paul, 79, worked as a bus driver and Edna was a machinist before she gave up work when they had children.

They moved to Sompting 19 years ago, after they had visited nearby Brooklands Park in East Worthing for a day trip with their three children and fell in love with the area.

When retirement loomed, they decided to move to Sompting.

The couple like gardening and reading. Asked about the secret of their long marriage, Edna, 77, said: "It is all about working together and talking your problems through."

The couple were renewing their wedding vows at home on Friday, surrounded by their son and two daughters, six grandchildren and their great-grandchild, expected to be born any time.