THEIR wedding day made the front page in the Grimsby Telegraph and it has been nothing but good news ever since for this golden couple – ex-Mariner Brian Keeble and his wife Diane.
But Diane didn't even know who he was when she first met him.
Brian, 74, says he first saw her working in a shop.
He said: "She was gorgeous. The manager caught me looking as I walked past and told me to talk to her."
Diane, 69, said: "I worked in a shop around the corner from the football ground. I didn't know who he was. I only found out who he was after my friends who worked in the shop told me that Brian Keeble was asking after me and told me he was a footballer.
"We went on our first date at the Winter Gardens but we didn't meet up until 11 o'clock because of a match.
"After that night we saw each other nearly every day.
"He courted me on the cheap. We would go to all the places that let him in for free because he played for Town.
"We always used to go dancing and to the pictures because he got in free!
"He didn't have a car and would time the buses so the drivers he knew would let him on for free.
"It has always been a laugh together, we have lived the good life.
"Before we started dating I had never been to a football match before, the club gave me a season ticket so my dad and I would go watch all of Brian's games."
Brian says the relationship grew quickly.
"It blossomed really quickly, we just went together.
"We had only been dating a few months before we got engaged and married a year later."
They held their wedding at St James's Church, now Grimsby Minster, which was a celebrity affair.
Diane said: "We were surprised to see it on the front page of the paper the next day.
"We had nearly the full team there as well as family and friends, it was really nice.
"Brian had Graham Taylor as an Usher and Derek Williams as his best man.
"We had to get married on a Monday because of the football matches and I spent my honeymoon at home as Brian had to play away at Sunderland.
"We finally got to go to Butlins in Filey for our honeymoon, which was nice to get away.
"To celebrate our golden wedding Brian took me to Venice and we rode in a gondola, it was really nice."
Family announcements start on page 30.
ON THE WEB: Read family announcements online at www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk
