A Camelsdale couple who have always stayed “side by side” throughout their marriage celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary this month.

Frank and Vivienne Mansell first met in Basingstoke when he was 16 and Viv was just 13.

The couple started courting following Mr Mansell’s two years’ National Service with the RAF and married on Mrs Mansell’s 23rd birthday at St Thomas-on-the-Bourne Church, in Farnham.

Mr Mansell who left school at the tender age of 14 to take up a five-year apprenticeship with the then Haslemere Motor Company has lived in the area all his life, while his wife became a shorthand typist after leaving school in Basingstoke

Viv finished her working days before bringing up their young family at the tax office in Farnham.

Their honeymoon was spent in Weymouth and on their return the couple moved into a flat over the showroom of the motor company before moving to their own home in Camelsdale which they are still pleased to call their home 56 years later.

With no hot water initially and an 18-month-old baby to care for, the couple soon found their feet and the family expanded with the arrival of sons Derek, Geoff and Terry.

Sixty years later the couple can proudly boast nine grandchildren, seven granddaughters and two grandsons.

During his working life, Mr Mansell went on to work for Gales Garage in Camelsdale before starting his own business within the motor repair business.

His success led to him to first moving into a workshop at Jesse Mann and later into premises in Fernhurst, helped by his wife who undertook the office work.

The happy couple took many holidays in England with their young sons and their motor caravan and Mr Mansell still drives the 130 miles to their caravan in Somerset, as well as enjoying holidays abroad with his wife.

“We have always been side by side and done everything we could together,” Mr Mansell told The Herald. “We hate being apart, it may not work for everyone being that close but it has for us.”