THE Embassy dance hall in Milehouse is where a Plymouth couple first met over half a century ago.

Derek Hardie met Margaret Rothwell at the dance hall in the December of 1956, and they were later married by the Rev James Adams at Stoke Damerel Church in Paradise Road on October 17, 1959.

Margaret wore a handmade dress, as did her four bridesmaids, and a reception was held at the Connaught Rooms, now known as the Stoke Social Club. They went to Butlins, spending their honeymoon at the Ocean Hotel in Brighton.

Mr Hardie served his National Service in the RAF between 1957 and 1959. He was a shipwright at Devonport Dockyard between 1952 and 1988 before taking early retirement.

Brought up in Terra-Nova Green in Milehouse, Mrs Hardie was a seamstress for Bevex between 1954 and 1960. She became a housewife and mother to their daughters. In 1968 she returned to work and took up a career in catering at a school and the BBC until 1996.

Their daughters are Karen Strickland, who lives in Plymouth, and Debra Turner, married to husband Tim Turner who live at Yelverton.

Their grandchildren are Jenna Strickland, aged 24, and on the Turner side of the family are Laura, aged 22, Abbi, aged 20, Daniel, aged 18, and Thomas, aged 15.

Golden wedding celebrations took place at the Halfway House in Grenofen where family joined the couple in their anniversary festivities.

Derek and Margaret received a nice surprise at the event when, unbeknown to the couple, their grandchildren Daniel and Laura had travelled from university to see them.

Their daughters had also arranged a surprise for the couple the following day on the Sunday. They had invited people from the past including best man Terry Hearn and one of Margaret's four bridesmaids, Kim Jones.

Mr Hardie said: "We weren't expecting Daniel and Laura to come down so it was a surprise for us. It was lovely. We had a nice time. It was a surprise on the next day when our daughters invited people including one of our bridesmaids, Kim. It was nice to see her again."