A husband who has been dancing together with his wife for decades celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary with a ballroom jig.

John, 82, and Patricia Parke, 83, from Staunton Road, Kingston, went out on the tiles at the Kingston Working Men’s Club on Saturday, before holding a small party on Thursday for their sparkling milestone.

John said: "We went dancing and had a big party. I did ballroom dancing and sequence dancing.

"The wife doesn’t dance. She can hardly walk now. I had to dance with other people. But she enjoyed herself, with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

Pat said: "John is very easy-going, very thoughtful. I would not be without him. He has been a brick all these years.

"We have had a wonderful marriage. But I hadn’t even known it was our anniversary before he told me.

"We have had a lovely life, but we have had our ups and downs like everybody else."

They both grew up in Kingston, and Pat had gone to school at Bonner Hill, and John had gone to a Richmond Road school.

They first met in a group of friends and eventually started dating.

They were married at St John’s Church in Knights Park on April 25, 1953.

Pat worked in Boots Chemist and John used to work with Thames Water. They had two children, and two grandchildren.

They also have one great-grandson.

John said: “We have always done everything together. If I was playing bowls, she would play bowls. We did a lot of dancing, a lot of old-time dancing.

"I still dance occasionally. We used to dance at Ashdown Road. Now we go out on a Friday and play crib down at the workmen’s club."

"She has been a wonderful wife to me. She has done anything that I asked and I never had any complaints.

"A lot of people say about her that she is a wonderful woman."