WHAT is the secret to a good marriage? Arguing as often as possible!

That is according to Joan and John Hewitt are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary today.

The couple who were married on June 22, 1957, say they could not be happier, even if they get on each other’s nerves sometimes.

Joan, who is 89, said that she thinks the secret to a good marriage is by having a good old fashioned row.

She said: “We argue and bicker constantly but I think that is healthy in a relationship because it gets everything out in the open rather than letting it all stew.

“No sooner have we fell out with each other have we made up again and everything is all right.”

John, aged 86, agreed and said that it was love at first sight for him all those years ago when the couple first met in 1955.

He worked as a delivery driver all of his working life, and it was while he was dropping off groceries to a shop where Joan was working that they met.

He said: “It really was love at first sight,

“Not long after I had met her I said to a friend that she was going to be the one that I marry.”

Two years later they were after John proposed on a holiday in Wales.

Asked if John did the gentlemanly thing and got down on one knee, Joan said: “No he didn’t because people didn’t really do that in those days.

“But I said yes right away and we were married soon after.”

Both originally from Swinton, the pair moved to Bolton after they were married at a registry office in Salford.

After, the newlyweds moved to Farnworth before relocating to Thorns Road in Astley Bridge where they lived for 40 years.

Now living in Seymour House in Astley Bridge, the pair have two children, Leslie and Trevor, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

In 1997, after 40 years together, they renewed their vows at Worsley Baptist Church.

Aside from the tiffs, Joan said the 60 years that they have spent together had been good and that she has no regrets.

She added: “I would do it all again, He has been a fantastic husband —apart form when he forgets to put his hearing aid in!”