A LOCAL couple who met on the dance floor in Andover have just celebrated their diamond wedding.

Jean Clark from Andover met Jack Leeson from Portsmouth when the electrical fitter with the air force was posted to RAF Andover following a lengthy stint in Malaya.

Jack, aged 85, said: “Jean was a great dancer and one night we met and I said: ‘I’d like to take you out for a bus ride’.”

It was a bus ride to a football match in Alton where Jack was playing as full-back for Andover Town FC and the bus ride turned out to be on the team coach.

The pair continued to court and were married at Bridge Street Methodist Church in Andover on 28 August 1954.

Jack remained in the RAF until 1969 and the pair spent two and a half years in Germany as well as a variety of bases in the UK including Melksham and in Norfolk where Jack worked on Victor bombers.

Jack said: “After I left the RAF we thought it would be nice to return to Andover as Jean’s mum and dad were still alive.

“I worked on the foreign bureau at Lloyds Bank in Andover until I retired but was called back and continued to work at the Stockbridge branch until I was 65.”

Jean, now 83, was kept busy with family duties but also worked at Taskers in Anna Valley, the hospital and finally at TSB in Andover.

The couple have three children, all in their 50s and all living in Andover. Jack said Jean has been a ‘terrific mother’.

They also have seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren and have been very happy together.

Jack said: “We are two complete opposites but I think that is a great thing. We both come from happy families and we always wanted a happy family.”

Jack’s sporting talents are still in evidence. He plays bowls and says he remains ‘a social member of the golf club’ which is just a stone’s throw from the couple’s home on the southern edge of Andover.

They are planning a large family get together in a couple of weeks but last week entertained friends and neighbours at the Golf Club.