A COUPLE who met on a blind date still only have eyes for each other after 50 years of marriage.

Ray and Sylvia Garbutt, from Sedgefield, never dreamt they would meet their soul mate when they reluctantly agreed to accompany their friends on a double date on December 17, 1959.

Yet, this chance encounter proved the start of lifelong romance.

The couple married at St Edmund’s Church in Sedgefield on September 12 1964 and lived in Fishburn, before returning to Sedgefield in the early 1970s.

Mrs Garbutt, 74, was a nurse at Sedgefield General Hospital, while Mr Garbutt, 74, worked for Sedgefield Borough Council. They are both are passionate gardeners.

The couple, who have two children and seven grandchildren, will celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary at a family party.

Mrs Garbutt said: “The key to a happy marriage is to trust and love each other in sickness and in health; through the good times and the bad.”