Family and friends travelled from far and wide to celebrate 65 years of marriage with an Okehampton couple.

John and Vera Bray celebrated their wedding anniversary at Meldon Village Hall after attending their church harvest lunch at Fairplace Church in Okehampton.

Vera, now in her 80s, had to wait until her 21st birthday to get married, and was 21 for just two days before she married John, now coming up to his 92nd birthday.

She worked at a haberdashery store at that time, while John was a delivery driver for Billy Pike and International Stores which later became the Co-op. They met at their local church and their first date was to the cinema.

Both born and bred in Okehampton, they married on September 14 1959 and continued their married lives in the town where they live to this day.

Cousins travelled from Cambridge and Dorset, and friends from as far as Winchester and Wales to celebrate with the pair on their special day.

The anniversary get together was supposed to be a surprise, says their daughter Chrissie Read, an active volunteer in the town, but word got out.

“It was such a lovely, sunny day, and they both had a great time chatting with cousins and friends who came from all over the country to see them,”,she said.

In fact, everybody was so busy reminiscing, that the cake organised for the party was completely forgotten.

“At the end when we were clearing up Mum found it in its box with the lid still on!”