AN INCREDIBLE love story that started in 1958 and is still going strong today for Alan and Anne Stackman, of Calne, who celebrated 60 years of marriage on March 19.

"I was in the RAF and stationed at Yatesbury, in those days dances were much more formal than today. I got asked to dance, by Anne, in a Ladies Excuse Me and I've never looked back since. Have to admit I was a bit tipsy at the time, but I survived the first dance." Said 81 year old Alan. "I had been with friends to learn to dance the basic quickstep before we went.

"We had eight weeks of courting and then I had to go back to Germany, but we carried on our friendship. I'm a Londoner originally and we had been up and down to London a few times so that I could introduce Anne to my family. When I returned from abroad, having decided between us we would get married, I decided to ask her properly, so I did, in Trafalgar Square and we were married in 1960 at St Mary's Church in Calne.

"His proposal was very romantic," said Anne,80. "Nelson's Column was in the background and I remember so clearly as it was a really starry night.

"We've had a really good life together. We have a lovely family, our eldest is Paul, 58 and we have twin boys, Michael and Mark, 54 and Zoe 52. We are so lucky as we also have eleven grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

"Alan is a great cook and has always done the cooking. We both read a lot. There are no secrets to a happy marriage, you have to respect each other's space, show tolerance to differences and have fun together."

"We love our dancing, we were good jivers, obviously not so nowadays, but we have plenty to do. Circumstances at the moment have definitely put a damper on things as we can't celebrate by going out, but we have got some champagne and will certainly enjoy that."

She added: "Some of my friends married RAF guys too and we are still all in contact. It was a real shame when all the camps closed for us all."