MORE than 50 years after their teenage eyes first met across the aisles of a church, a Worcester couple are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary.

Lionel Wheat, aged 72 and his wife Joan, 71, grew up in the neighbouring villages of March and Wimblington, in Cambridgeshire.

The three-mile distance between the two failed to keep the sweethearts apart and the couple decided to tie the knot in Wimblington Methodist Church on July 12, 1952. Both were keen choral singers there.

Mr Wheat began his trade as a trainee reporter on the Cambridgeshire Times, after leaving March Grammar School at the age of 16.

"I remember having to pedal a bike around town to find out the latest news," said Mr Wheat, of Keats Avenue, Barbourne.

"We had to report on weddings and cycle to all the clubs and societies to find out the latest events."

Although he wasn't allowed to use the telephone as a junior reporter, he soon worked his way up to chief reporter and joined Berrow's Worcester Journal as a sub-editor in 1962.

He became editor of the Bromsgrove Messenger before returning to the Journal for a second time. He retired in 1991 but still helps to train new reporters.

Mrs Wheat worked as a shop assistant and recalls having to order nylon stockings, which were still in demand but in short supply, after the war.

She also remembers how rationing played its part in the couple's wedding.

"We had to put aside a tin of fruit every week to make sure we had enough food for the reception," said Mrs Wheat.

"The village butcher was also really good. He set aside some lovely meat for the day."

Mrs Wheat also worked at Ronkswood Hospital and as assistant cook at Nunnery Wood School for several years.

The couple are actively involved in St Andrew's Methodist Church, in Pump Street, with Mrs Wheat in charge of letting and her husband just completing a seven-year term as secretary.

The keen charity fund-raisers have three children, Christine, Emma and Nigel, and five grandchildren. They have invited friends and family to a house party to celebrate their 50-year milestone.