A couple recreated their wedding photos in the exact same spot 60 years on from when they tied the knot.
Doreen. 79, and William (Billy) Nisbet, 80, were barely out of their teenage years when they married in St Helens in 1963- but their story goes back even further than this. Originally from Stockton-on-Tees, William first met Doreen while she was on a coach trip to Blackpool.
The pair were instantly infatuated with each other and began writing letters to one another, their granddaughter Emilee Spencer said.
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Emilee told the ECHO: "Nan and Grandad met in Blackpool in 1959. Doreen, age 16 was on a coach trip from St Helens and Billy, 17, was with his friends and they had travelled from Stockton-on-Tees.
"After their meeting in the horror chambers in Madame Tussaud’s, Billy waited on the other side and they had spent just five hours together when Doreen’s friend, Evelyn said to her 'I’m going to be your bridesmaid', and a couple of years later, she was."
Doreen's coach left Blackpool for St Helens at 12, and the teenager thought she would never see her new love again. But the romance was just beginning, Emilee added: "Grandad eventually wrote to Nan and after many letters, telegrams and evenings waiting in the rain for the phone box to call, they began travelling back and forth every fortnight to visit each other.
"Grandad proposed to Nan by shouting across the train station as she was getting on the train to go home after a weekend in Stockton. "
The couple were married at St Mark's Church in St Helens on March 30 1963, and welcomed their first child, Angela, nine months later followed by Robert in 1966. They now have five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Emilee said that in their younger days, her nan was sacked from a job for visiting her grandad in Stockton, she said: "Nan mostly worked in factories including a shoe factory which she was ultimately sacked from due to visiting Billy in Stockton.
"She had had received a telegram saying he was poorly so she borrowed £4 off her dad and got straight on a train to see him. It turns out it was his friend who had sent it because he was missing Nan so much and wanted to cheer him up. To this day Nan says it was worth it.
"They are absolutely hilarious, young in the head and still love to jive. They share a love of music including country and rock & roll. Grandad was in a rock & roll band called Deputies in his younger years."
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