A NORTH Malvern couple are celebrating 50 years of marriage.

Nigel and Betty Evans, of Cowleigh Bank, met in 1949, while both serving in the Royal Navy at HMS Vulture in Cornwall. Four years later, they married at Temple Grafton, near Stratford, where Mr Evans is from.

Mr Evans, 73, stayed in the Navy until 1954, then joined the family farming business in Warwickshire until his father retired. He then worked for the Electricity Generating Board, where he qualified as an auctioneer and valuer. From there he became manager of a Solihull estate agents and secretary to West Midlands branch of the Incorporated Society of Valuers and Auctioneers.

Mrs Evans, 72, left the Women's Royal Naval Reserves in 1951, working for the Birmingham Fire Service until the couple married.

In the mid-70s the pair, now with three daughters, moved to Eastnor. Mr Evans worked as a housing officer for Malvern Hills District Council and was clerk to Welland Parish Council. In 1986, the couple purchased Watkins Printers on Worcester Road, Malvern, which they ran as partners until they retired in 2001.

The pair will celebrate their anniversary with their family. Their daughters all live in Malvern, as do their six grandchildren.

Mrs Evans said long marriages ran in the family, with her brother reaching his 50th anniversary, as did her husband's parents.

Mr Evans joked: "It's mystery to me, I don't know how she's put up with it."