'We've always done everything together': Northampton lovebirds celebrate diamond wedding anniversary

An inseparable Northampton couple is celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary today (September 23).

Maureen, 78, and Brian Ingle, 83, got married on this day 60 years ago and, just yesterday, received a very special letter from her majesty, The Queen, to mark the occasion.

Maureen knew the letter was coming as this was organised by a family friend and she was very excited to surprise her husband with it.

She said: "They had to tell me because they had to get a copy of my wedding certificate before they'd do it so I knew about it a couple of months ago but he didn't and I kept it as a secret from him because I knew he would be absolutely thrilled to bits."

Whilst many married couples fortunate enough to make it to the incredible 60-year milestone would usually celebrate with a party or perhaps even a romantic getaway, Brian joked that they will actually be doing something less conventional - paying a visit to the hospital so that he can have a brain scan.

Maureen was just 15-years-old when she met 18-year-old Brian for the first time. Brian, at the time, was in the Royal Air Force and his mother wanted to move into a bigger house when he returned home so - in a pivotal move that would set in motion the intertwining of their paths - moved into a house opposite Maureen's home in Northampton.

Maureen, reflecting on the first time she clapped eyes on her now husband of 60 years, said: "I saw him out the window; he had a scooter and I sort of fell for him straight away when I saw him and nothing was said or done.

"Then, one day, I was walking down the street - I'd come home - and apparently I knew his sister but I didn't realise his sister lived there. I didn't know who she was and his mother stuck her head out the window and said, 'Brian is going to take you down The Salon on Saturday!'"

Brian, laughing, added: "I didn't know about this!"

Maureen continued: "I was thrilled to bits! That was the start of it, wasn't it? We went out that night and we never parted since. Brian asked me out the following day, he was 21 on the Monday after that and that was it, we were never apart from then, ever."

Maureen's father told her that she was not allowed to be married until she turned 18-years-old. Her eighteenth birthday fell on September 9, 1961 and the couple wed at St Michael and All Angels' Church in Perry Street on September 23 later that month.

Brian said: "Now you know why we're celebrating 60 years and you also know why I'm having my brain scanned!"

From there, Brian and Maureen bought their first home - a flat in Holly Road - then, over the years, moved to Parklands, Earls Barton, Kingsthorpe and then to their current home in Lings.

Brian, after leaving the RAF, started working in advertising at The Chronicle & Echo in 1954 back when there were two editions of the paper going out every day. He returned to the National Service from 1957 to 1959, worked on The Independent magazine where he was promoted to advertising manager and then, in 1976, he returned to The Chronicle as a sales executive and then advertising manager before leaving the paper in 1990.

Brian said: "The Chronicle, in my day, we were like a family. It was like a club, everyone knew everyone else."

Meanwhile, Maureen worked in various shops across Northampton and spent many years working at Church's China in The Ridings Arcade. She then worked for Marks and Spencer in Abington Street right up until she eventually retired.

Brian and Maureen have two daughters, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Their youngest great grandchild will be turning one on December 31.

Maureen joked: "I said I want someone to make me a great grandma before I die - why did I say that? They're crawling out the woodwork!"

A former chess champion, Brian along with his chess team won many awards back in the day including a cup in London, which he had to go to collect. He even taught his wife a thing or two so that she could join in on the fun.

Maureen said: "I did try to learn to play to keep up with him and I did play actually and I wasn't too bad - in fact, you even put me in the team one night when you were short and I was doing alright actually until they all came round to watch and then I went to pieces."

Brian, reflecting on one particular competitive chess game, said: "I played a girl from Poland. She had her mum with her and we started playing and I just beat her at the end by one movement and she said, 'I can see where I went wrong, it was the 25th move,' but you remember, don't you? I went oh yes, yes!"

Maureen and Brian were asked to share some of their happiest memories they have shared together over the last 60 years. Maureen immediately recalled a trip they took to London after Brian won a competition at The Chronicle & Echo in the late sixties.

She said: "We went up on the train first class and we stayed at this hotel, which was The Tower Hotel at the time, and it overlooked the river Thames and Tower Bridge and we had a window directly looking over Tower Bridge and I fell in love with the bridge and watched it go up and down.

"In those days, it was something we weren't use to doing and it was absolutely super, we had a really good time and I said for a long time I would love to go back to that hotel."

They did return to that hotel around 10 years ago when their eldest daughter organised the trip. They stayed in the same hotel with a similar room that overlooked the bridge, which "fascinated" Maureen. They described how they walked along the Embankment and then visited a restaurant that resembled a theatre. Visitors dined in 'boxes' and diners could peer over their balconies to enjoy the entertainment and performances at ground level.

Maureen, talking about her highlight of that particular trip, said: "We went on a cruise down the river and a jazz band was on board and we had dinner on this boat and went all the way down the Thames and it was beautiful.

"It was a lovely evening, the weather those few days was gorgeous and this boat was absolutely super and the band and we danced. It was really lovely - it was smashing so I've never forgotten that."

Another memorable trip they took together was for their 50th anniversary in Jersey when they went to Elizabeth Castle.

Maureen said: "They were doing a demonstration with the cannon and the fella down there said, 'Is it anyone's birthday?' No one answered so my eldest daughter spoke up and said it's my mum and dad's golden wedding anniversary and the cannon was fired in our honour and-" Maureen got up from the sofa to pick up a small model of a gold cannon from on top of the mantel, "My youngest daughter went and bought that for me!"

Chronicle & Echo concluded the interview by asking the happy couple the all-important inevitable question about their diamond wedding anniversary: what is the secret to a long and happy marriage?

Brian, after pondering for a few seconds, replied: "I think, generally speaking, it's something simple... like patience and understanding. It might sound corny. We went to my niece's service at a church and the vicar said to the newly weds, why did you get together? They said because it felt comfortable."

Maureen, agreeing, said: "I think that's it, feeling comfortable to be yourself with someone."

Congratulations to Brian and Maureen Ingle on their 60th wedding anniversary and we wish you many happy years together to come.