CHILDHOOD sweethearts Bert and Beatrice Whitehead have danced their way to 65 years of marriage.

The couple, who celebrate their Blue Sapphire anniversary today, have "worked hard and played hard" during their time together — enjoying many years of ballroom dancing at their favourite Bolton venues including the Palais de Danse, on the corner of Higher Bridge Street and St Georges Road.

The pair, of Heaton Avenue, wed at All Saints church in Moses Gate on March 25, 1950 after Mr Whitehead, now aged 87, finished his national service.

They went on to have four children, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Mrs Whitehead, aged 85, who worked as a tailoress and at a mail order company before retiring, said: "Life has brought us its ups and downs but we are still here together and always look on the positive side of things.

"It's about give and take. Bert always jokes that he gives and I take — but I think it's the other way around really. You've got to have a sense of humour too."

Mrs Whitehead met her husband, who worked as a driver at a bathroom centre, when she was 15.

She said: "My father wasn't too pleased about us courting at first because we were both so young. But he went off to do his national service and two years later when he came back my father was happy that we were a bit older.

"I can remember our wedding well. We had 74 guests who sat down for a meal that cost five and six a head. We went on our honeymoon to Scarborough — it was either there or Blackpool that people went, no one went abroad then.

"We spent many of our younger years ballroom dancing, which we thoroughly enjoyed, before having our family, who we love dearly."