A HUSBAND and wife from Worcester who are also the best of friends have celebrated 60 years of marriage.

Derek and Joan Higgs' are marking their diamond wedding anniversary today (February 19).

The pair, who live in Hydrangea Close in St Peter's, met in the early 1950s as they used to catch the same bus to work in Hereford.

Mrs Higgs, aged 80, said: "We met as we were both working in Hereford and we used to travel on the same bus.

"We met at a dance as well and then we got together.

"He was very handsome then and he still is."

They married at Old Radnor Church, when Mr Higgs was on his first leave from National Service in Germany.

Mrs Higgs said: "We were courting for three years and Derek was doing a five-year apprenticeship.

"Then he had to go into the Army for two years for his National Service and we got married when he came home for his first leave."

However, it was not plain sailing - Mr Higgs, 81, was actually due home a week before the wedding date, but his leave was cancelled at the last minute.

This meant the wedding had to be moved back a week.

Mr Higgs was a coach builder and when he came back from the Army he went to work at HA Saunders in Castle Street.

Then for most of his life in Worcester he worked at Carmichaels building fire engines.

Mrs Higgs worked in the careers service for Worcestershire County Council.

The couple had two sons, Michael and Craig, but the former sadly died when he was just 36.

Mr and Mrs Higgs have lived across Worcester - with time in Warndon, St John's and Northwick, before moving to their current home in St Peter's 15 years ago.

The secret to their long and happy marriage is simple, according to Mrs Higgs.

"My mother always used to say to me that we were not just husband and wife, but the best of friends and I think that's it."