NOT giving up and working together is the key to a long and happy marriage, according to a couple who will be celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary today, Thursday.

Great-grandparents-of-15 Keith and Eleanor Durrington have been together since meeting at the Mountain Dew pub in Atherton in 1953, while Keith was on leave from the army after serving in Egypt.

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor fell in love with the 19-year-old soldier but he had to return to service in Germany.

The pair eventually married in 1956 at St Thomas’ Church on Chapel Street, Leigh, after Keith left the army.

Keith, 81, teases his wife about only taking £1 with her when they left for their honeymoon on the Isle of Man.

Eleanor, 79, said: “I lived in a chip shop in Leigh and my mum made the wedding cake and we had the reception in the dining room.

“We took a taxi and then flew to the Isle of Man. I took only £1 with me, but it was all I had.

"We had a whale of a time.

“Keith has looked after me a lot.”

“I had to, your mother told me so,” added Keith.

The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary 10 years ago by renewing their vows at the church where they were married.

This year they had a big party with family and friends to mark 60 years of wedded bliss.

The happy couple, who also have 14 grandchildren, said they love having a big family.

Keith added: “It is important for everybody to look after one another.

“I would say to young couples to just enjoy yourselves and work for each other.

“We share responsibilities – sometimes I cook and sometimes she does – and have lots of holidays.”

They have enjoyed numerous family holidays.

After leaving the army Keith became a lorry driver and the couple had seven children, raising them at their home in Glazebury before moving to Longbarn and later Fearnhead in Warrington.