GOLD and diamonds were not enough for sweethearts Ron and Mary Ashmore - they wanted platinum.

For the couple have gone much further than most by making it to their 70th wedding anniversary, celebrating their Platinum Wedding Anniversary on Wednesday.

The pair met in Belmont Village, where they have lived all their lives, at a time when television was just coming into being and Elvis Presley was born.

Mr Ashmore, aged 90, said: "Mary lived three doors away but I looked for a girl before we got together. We went to school with each other but I decided on Mary in the end and I'm sure I got the best of the lot.

"When we got married, everyone from the village turned up.

"After the ceremony at St Peter's Church, we just went for boiled ham sandwiches and a cup of tea at Mary's mum's house.

"I don't see why people spend a lot of money on weddings and go on fancy holidays. That's not a marriage; it's just a party." The couple went on to have two girls and have 15 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and three great great-grandchildren. They will all be getting together on Saturday for a party at the couple's home.

Mr and Mrs Ashmore worked at Belmont Bleachworks all their lives, with Mr Ashmore taking a six-year break to fight in the Second World War.

During the war, he originally joined the Scottish regiment but later ended up in the airborne regiment and glided into Arnhem in the now-famous Operation Market Garden. He said: "I was one of the lucky ones. There was 1,000 of us from our regiment went into Arnhem and only 70 came back. I guess I'm still lucky today."

Mr Ashmore has cared for his wife who is 91 since she suffered a stroke 18 months ago.

He said: "I've had to learn to cook and dust and everything; things I've never done before but I'm not bad now. I can bake as well."

But he still has time off to pop out for a pint and look after his allotment, where he keeps a 26-year-old goose and hens.

Mr Ashmore said: "It does me good to walk to the allotment every morning and every night. I bought it in 1935 when we got married to stop me staying in the house all the time. You've got to do something to get you out and about. Since the end of the war, we have never had to buy an egg so it's served us well."

Asked for the secret of their success, he said: "You both need something else to do otherwise you just stay in and get fed up with each other."