A POPULAR couple who have been part of the fabric of Kendal life for many decades are celebrating their diamond wedding next week.

Elizabeth and Ian Colquhoun tied the knot at Kendal Parish Church in 1959, and never was a wedding venue more appropriate as Mr Colquhoun served as a sidesman there for 30 years and both are regular attendees to this day.

It has been a lifetime of happiness for the couple since they first met when both worked at the old Martins Bank in the town.

Mr Colquhoun was born at Helm Chase Maternity Hospital and lived in several locations in the area as a youngsters including Arkholme where his father was station master.

He did his the National Service in the Royal Army Corps in Leeds before he started working at the bank.

Mrs Colquhoun, nee Hodson, was originally from Bolton but moved to Kendal with her parents and sister, Margaret, when she was 10 years old and attended Castle Street Primary School, followed by Kendal High School for Girls.

After leaving school, her first job was in the Trustees' Department at Martins Bank, where she met Mr Colquhoun.

Love blossomed and after a three year courtship, they married and after a honeymoon in London, settled into married life

Mrs Colquhoun left the bank in 1963 when her first child, Andrew, was born, and the couple later had a daughter, Jane.

Her husband continued working at the bank, which later became a Barclays branch, as chief cashier before later joining South Lakeland District Council’s Treasurer’s Department.

Mr Colquhoun retired in 1992 after which the couple appreciated spending more time together, enjoying holidays, both in this country and abroad, and regularly took walks in the Lakeland Fells.

A keen football supporter who followed both Preston North End and Everton, he is also a longstanding member of the Kendal Probus Club.

Mrs Colquhoun, who is now 81, and her husband, 84, also enjoy spending time with their four grandchildren Lorna, Jamie, Jody and Louie, all of whom live locally.

And they had a moving summary of their key to six decades of marital happiness - "An abiding love and pride in each other and in our treasured family."