LITTLE did Ted Jenkins know that a bike ride would lead to him finding the love of his life.

Now, more than 60 years later, Mr Jenkins and his wife of six decades, Jessie, are celebrating their Diamond Wedding.

The couple met in Cripplegate Park, Wor-cester, in 1950 when Mr Jenkins and his friend rode through the park on their bicycles.

As he cycled Mr Jenkins noticed his wife-to-be riding along with her friend and the couple started talking. He offered to accompany her on her ride home and was a little surprised to discover that she lived some nine miles away in Ombersley, near Worcester.

Mr Jenkins asked to borrow her bicycle lights to return home as it was getting dark and the couple agreed to meet the next day to swap them back.

They have been inseparable ever since.

“There was an instant spark between us,” said 86-year-old Mrs Jenkins, who worked at Worcester Porcelain and St George’s Laundry.

The happy couple tied the knot at Ombersley Church on March 8, 1952, and began married life in rooms at Kempsey.

They welcomed the birth of the first of their five sons a year later and finally got a place of their own in 1956 at the newly-built Rydal Close, Warndon, Worcester.

They later lived at Merrimans Hill for 18 years before settling at their current home in Sunnyside Road, Barbourne, for the past 30 years.

Mr and Mrs Jenkins, now the proud grandparents of six boys and one girl, will be celebrating their anniversary with more than 30 family and friends on Saturday at the Mug House, Claines, near Worcester.

And the secret to their lasting marriage? Mr Jenkins, aged 82, said: “We take everything as it comes and just deal with it.”