A LIMEKILNS couple have celebrated 60 happy years of marriage this month.

Jim and Carole Tucker, both 83, met each other at the Manchester Student Union, fell in love and tied the knot on March 16, 1963. Since then they have moved to Limekilns, travelled the world and built a life together.

Carole told the Press: "I worked at a hospital in Manchester and Jim came up to Manchester as part of an apprenticeship with an electrical firm. I had had a boyfriend for quite a long time and that had broke up so one of my friends said 'oh should we go to the university union'.

"That was where one could go on a Saturday night and I hadn't been to the union for a long time so she said 'oh lets go' so we went and I met Jim and that was it really.

"I never went again, we met there and didn't go back."

And their secret to a long and happy marriage? Carole shared: "Just keep going, we tended to support each other pretty well and we haven't disagreed on too many things so eventually we got there in the end!

"We're both reasonable sort of people, we do have arguments but we usually manage to sort them out."

She also attributes their happy life to the success of their marriage. They've lived in England, Scotland and even lived in Germany for a year, enjoyed many camping trips in foreign countries and instilled a sense of adventure in their three children, Andrew, Paul and Hazel.

While a lot has changed in their life, Carole still loves all the same things about Jim that she fell for all those years ago.

She continued: "He's always been very true to his beliefs, he doesn't have strong religious beliefs but he does have a right or wrong ethics which has kept us steady. He's never been nasty to me and the children in any way, he's a very nice man and he's kind to other people as well.

"He's done lots of volunteering in different ways, he done the Samaritans for a while then he worked at something called the Yard, it's set up for disabled children and young people, so he worked there for a few years and now he runs the men's club at the church in the village. He's a do-er, he's always got some project on the go."

Sadly, Carole has fallen into bad health. She has Parkinsons and credits Jim for taking such good care of her.

"Jim is really very good at looking after me," she said. "I certainly wouldn't be able to manage without him. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have him with me so we're certainly very lucky to be together."

The couple celebrated their Diamond Anniversary with a party in the village on March 25.

And for anyone looking to have a long and successful marriage like Jim and Carole, she advises: "Listen to each other, which we didn't always do at first.

"Never go to bed in an argument, but sometimes you can't help that so forget about any nastiness, don't dwell on it and let it flavour what's going ahead. Forget the nastiness and look on the good side, because there's always a very good side."