A COUPLE has returned to a Peebles hotel to mark 60 years since their first visit on their wedding day.

Stuart and Irene Reed were married on May 30, 1964.

The couple, originally from County Durham, drove up to the Borders on their wedding day and spent a night at the Peebles Hydro Hotel.

Stuart said: “The day of our wedding was hot and sunny.

“We set off in our Morris Minor 1000 from our home town of Seaham in County Durham towards the Borders. As we crossed Carter Bar it poured with rain.”

And while the couple could not afford more than one night at Peebles Hydro, they were met with a warm welcome.

Irene said: “We were so glad of the warm reception we got at Peebles.

“There was a band playing and we danced till almost midnight.

“I remember the beautiful ballroom ceiling. Confetti from our clothes fell onto the tartan stair carpet.”

After their night in Peebles the couple drove back over the border to spend a week in an aunt’s caravan in the English Pennines.

They added: “In typical honeymoon weather the rain teemed down for the entire week.”

And Stuart and Irene recently returned to the hotel to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary.

Irene added: “Our return brings back wonderful memories but we could only afford one night then.”

When they arrived Stuart and Irene were treated to a top room in the hotel and a surprise bottle of bubbly courtesy of their son.

Now living in Fareham, Hampshire, Stuart and Irene have led exciting lives since their wedding day 60 years ago.

Upon leaving the north east of England, Irene became a casualty nursing sister at a children’s hospital near London.

When the couple moved to Hampshire she set up her own thriving curtain-making business, where she made hand-sewn drapes for stately homes in the UK and internationally, selling to buyers in Dubai, France and Spain.

She is also a keen golfer and has played in the south of England, France and Spain.

Stuart worked as press officer for several government departments in Whitehall, including the Royal Navy press desk during the Falklands War and was part of the Number 10 press office during former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s time at Downing Street.

During his career he was deployed on assignments with UK and UN forces to places such as Bosnia, Cambodia, Northern Ireland.

Stuart has also covered anti-drugs and anti-smuggling patrols at sea with the navy in the Caribbean and in Hong Kong.

He is now retired and plays violin in amateur orchestras in Hampshire.