A COUPLE returned to the place they met to celebrate 50 years of marriage.

Love blossomed again in Blackpool's Winter Gardens where Alan and Barbara Jenkins met in their teens.

The couple set eyes on each other at the seaside resort on a works outing organised by East Lancs Paper Mill, where Mrs Jenkins worked as a paper sorter and Mr Jenkins as a project engineer.

"I was 15 years old and Alan was 18 and we started talking," said Mrs Jenkins, nee Haslam, who grew up in Williamson Avenue.

Soon after their meeting, Mr Jenkins was called up for National Service which took him to South Korea. "We courted for five years, but had a break of two," said Mrs Jenkins.

The two married at St Paul's Methodist Church. Mr Jenkins, who lived in Cock Clod Street, said: "We did not have a honeymoon, but we have more than made up for that since through travelling around Europe and have been to America."

The couple began married life in Hamer Street, Radcliffe, before moving to Eagley Drive, Bury. They returned to Radcliffe and ran a newsagents in Cross Lane. The pair left the borough in 1981 to move to Cornwall.

The couple enjoyed a party organised by their son Peter and his family. They asked for donations to be made to Macmillan Cancer Relief in memory of their son Michael who died last year.

The donations, together with other fundraising events have now raised close to £1,000.