A COUPLE from Lydiate Ash retraced their footsteps down the aisle to give their grandchildren the chance to be bridesmaids.

Pauline and Arthur Holliday, of Alvechurch Highway, have been married for 43 years but were fed up of waiting for their own children to tie the knot.

Their eldest daughter, Lesley, is married but their three grand-daughters Sophie Holliday, aged five, and seven-year-old twins Caroline and Elizabeth Hewitt, have never been bridesmaids.

On Saturday the couple held a celebration of their marriage at Holy Trinity Church, Lickey, the same place they got hitched more than 40 years ago.

They sang hymns, All Things Bright and Beautiful and Praise My Soul, and the Rev Phillip Swan took the service.

Four generations were present at the wedding -- Arthur and Pauline have two great-grandchildren -- and guests enjoyed a reception at Lesley's home, in Monument Lane.

Pauline, aged 68, and Arthur, now 83, first met because their gardens, in Sheldon, backed on to one another.

Now he enjoys a game of bridge and she takes her horse Holly for a ride each morning.

Pauline said: "It was a wonderful day, much better than the first wedding, which was frugal, and now we know what it's all about.

"It was all the girls' idea and they loved getting dressed up.

"There was no sign of my three getting married so granny had to lead the way."