A COUPLE who have known each other since they were children are celebrating 60 years of marriage today.

Ian and Shirley Fawcett, of Sowerby Road, Acomb, enjoyed a meal with their family at The Cut and Craft restaurant in York’s St Sampson’s Square on Tuesday to mark their diamond wedding anniversary.

The couple first met as children at St Clement’s Infants School.

Ian left home when he was 16 after joining the Merchant Navy. It was while on leave during his time in the Merchant Navy that he started dating Shirley.

They got married at St Clement’s Church on Scarcroft Road on March 21, 1959. Ian was called up to the Army about two months after the wedding and worked as a military policeman. He was sent to Nairobi in Kenya, and spent three years there, with Shirley joining him for much of that time. They then moved back to York.

The couple have a son, Dean, and a daughter, Tracey. They also have three grandchildren - Rachael, Alistair and George. Ian was born in Scalloway in the Shetland Islands and moved to York with his family when he was a young boy, while Shirley was born and raised in York.

During his working life, 80-year-old Ian has worked for National Glass Works, British Rail and Rowntree’s. Shirley, aged 79, worked at a Boots chemist and at Terry’s chocolate factory. Reflecting on their 60 years of marriage, Ian said: “You have got to give and take. We struggled like any young couple when we had children. But when they grew up we had holidays all over the world.”