CELEBRATING couples have made it a golden weekend in County Durham as they celebrate 50-years of marriage.

Robert and Maureen Ross, of Coundon, and Allan and Eileen Tate, of Ferryhill, have both marked half a century of marriage on July 25.

The two couples are to mark their respective anniversaries with family parties.

Mr Ross, 69, met his future wife at a dance in the Spennymoor Rink.

The couple, of Hillside Road, in Coundon, were married at St Paul’s Church, in Spennymoor, in 1964.

Mrs Ross, 68, worked at Paton and Baldwins and as a nurse at the former Aycliffe Hospital.

Her husband worked in West Auckland drift mine before setting up his own company Ross Erection and Cladding which became Ross Wright, in Newton Aycliffe.

Mrs Ross said: “We’re very proud to have reached 50-years of marriage as we didn’t think that we’d reach ten years.

“It’s not easy and you have to be prepared to give and take.”

They have two children Darren and Julie, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Mr Tate and his wife first met at a dance, in Ferryhill, in 1962 and they married St Andrew’s Church, in Spennymoor, two years later.

He completed an engineering apprenticeship before moving to Thorns, in Spennymoor. Mrs Tate was at Thorns too plus Dean Bank Primary School, in Ferryhill.

Beth Tonge, the couple’s granddaughter, said: “They look after each other and are very caring. They have kept their love going and we’re really proud of them.”

The couple have two children Anglea and Andrew, plus five grandchildren.