IT WAS a holiday down memory lane for David and Joan Broad who returned to their honeymoon destination to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary. Mr and Mrs Broad, of Chestnut Avenue, Bradwell, reached their milestone of 60 years of marriage last Tuesday, July 21, and returned to the Isle of Man where they had honeymooned in 1949 - but this time took their family along.

IT WAS a holiday down memory lane for David and Joan Broad who returned to their honeymoon destination to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary.

Mr and Mrs Broad, of Chestnut Avenue, Bradwell, reached their milestone of 60 years of marriage last Tuesday, July 21, and returned to the Isle of Man where they had honeymooned in 1949 - but this time took their family along.

The couple met in 1947 at a dance at the Britannia Pier in Yarmouth. Mr Broad, now 80, was in the Navy and his ship, the minesweeper HMS Switha, was stationed in Yarmouth.

When the vessel returned to Plymouth, the couple kept in touch by letter and it wasn't until July 1948 the couple were reunited in Yarmouth when Mr Broad, originally from Manchester, returned to the resort for a holiday.

Mrs Broad, 81, explained: “My friend said 'guess who I have just seen' and she had made arrangements with David to meet me that evening.”

The couple began dating officially and were engaged on September 4 when Mr Broad proposed on the Britannia Pier, where they had first met and they were married at St Peter's Church in Yarmouth, in 1949.

Mr and Mrs Broad moved to Manchester where they lived for three years before they returned to Yarmouth when they were expecting their first child.

They lived in Gorleston for a short while before moving to their current home in Bradwell.

Mrs Broad worked part-time at local solicitors Lucas and Wyllys for 31 years while Mr Broad worked as an engineer for Pye electric in Lowestoft then at electric motor company TASC Drives, also in Lowestoft, where he worked as a production manager until he retired at 62.

Mr Broad enjoys woodturning and building computers and Mrs Broad is a voluntary worker at the James Paget University Hospital.

The couple have two children, Deborah and Ian, and a grandson, James.

Commenting on the diamond milestone, Mrs Broad said: “You just think where have the years gone. I think it is wonderful to reach this milestone, and it cannot be that popular because I couldn't find a diamond wedding anniversary card with Husband on it.”