IT was a love letter straight from the heart that led to 60 years of marriage for a Darlington couple.

In the early 1950s, a Middlesbrough teenager was dared to write to an airman who had advertised for penpals in Picturegoer magazine.

The airman was inundated with responses and left her letter to languish in a pile later rifled through by colleague Jim Baldwin, then based at RAF Negumbo in Ceylon.

Mr Baldwin found the girl’s letter and wrote back, sparking a romance that has lasted more than six decades.

This week, former penpals Jim and Sylvia Baldwin will join their family to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary.

The devoted couple married on October 30 1954 at Middlesbrough’s St Oswald’s Church and spent just £4.15 on a honeymoon to Scarborough.

They went on to settle in Darlington where they had a daughter and three sons, including the town's former mayor Paul Baldwin.

Mr Baldwin, 82, said: “We wrote to each other for about 15 months then we met in Middlesbrough, we took a walk in Albert Park and then went to meet her parents – I thought she was wonderful, she looked lovely and the rest is history.

Mrs Baldwin, 79, said: “He would send me nylons which you couldn’t get here at the time and I thought he was really nice – in one of his letters he’d said he was looking after children and my mam said he’d be a good one if he was trusted with them.”

She added: “We love each other and we’ve lasted so long because we know it’s all about give and take and working hard at it.

“We have a lovely family and what more could you ask for?”