A GOLDEN couple with family at heart will celebrate their landmark wedding anniversary with a big bash later this year.

John and Helen Scott will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary tomorrow (Thursday, March 26) and will hold a party in October when other family members mark special birthdays.

Mr Scott, originally from Spennymoor, met his future bride Helen Smirthwaite, from Shildon, in the Roma Cafe, in Spennymoor, in 1964.

The following year they married at Bishop Auckland Registry Office and lived in Coundon Grange and Shildon before settling in the Spennymoor area more than 30 years ago.

The couple have three daughters and a son - Tracey, Beverley, Helen and John Paul - ten grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Mr Scott worked as a plumber at Thorn electrical plant and Mrs Scott worked at the Estraca sewing factory, near Bishop Auckland. In retirement, Mrs Scott, 66, enjoys socialising particularly bingo in Durham and Mr Scott, 69, collects model cars.

Mrs Scott said: “We have had ups and downs and have lived through them, we’ve stuck together through thick and thin which is what makes a marriage.

“We try to go with the flow and appreciate each other.”