THE dress that Phyllis Caldwell wore down the aisle 60 years ago came back out as she and husband Gordon celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

The dress, which was made by Mrs Caldwell’s mother, was ‘modelled’ by the couple’s granddaughter Jessica at a celebration for their diamond anniversary held at the Watney Hall in Lydney.

Mrs Caldwell said: “I couldn’t get into it now but Jess looked lovely in it.”

The couple first met as children when Mrs Caldwell, who is originally from Gloucester, went to stay with her future husband’s grandmother in Lydney when her mother went into hospital.

Romance blossomed as teenagers when Mr Caldwell had joined the Royal Engineers for his National Service.

Mrs Caldwell said: “He came to visit us and he looked very smart in his uniform. He asked me to go to the pictures and the following day he had to go back to Germany.

“He wrote every day for six months.”

The couple married at Longlevens Church in Gloucester in March 1957 with Mrs Caldwell taken down the aisle by her father, Gilbert Leach, whose cousin was Archibald Leach – better known as the Hollywood star Cary Grant.

Mr Caldwell had worked on the railways, first as an engine cleaner in Lydney and then as a fireman on mainline trains out of Gloucester.

He was unable to return to the railway after breaking his leg in a football match in the army.

Later he worked for Watts of Lydney and at the Pine End Works in the town.

The couple, who have lived in Beaumont Place, Lydney for 55 years say “give and take” is the key to their long and happy marriage.

They have a son and a daughter and a granddaughter and grandson.