CHRISTMAS Eve will be extra special for a Southcrest couple this year as they celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary, writes melina Cannon.

Joan and Ron Farmer (pictured), of Mayfields, married in Burford, Oxfordshire, on December 24, 1941, where Mrs Farmer is from, but have been living in Redditch for 54 years.

The couple met in 1939 at Oxfordshire's RAF Brize Norton, where Webheath-born Mr Farmer was stationed.

Mrs Farmer left Burford for Redditch in 1940 and worked at ammunition factory BSA in Studley Road, but still returns to Burford occasionally to meet up with an old school friend.

The couple have a 58-year-old son, Anthony, who lives in Liverpool, and two grandchildren in their twenties, Jonathan and Timothy.

Mr Farmer, 83, said he had just began his 10-and-a-half year stint in the RAF when he met his wife-to be.