A COUPLE who fell in love at Christmas and then decided to marry a year later are celebrating their diamond wedding.Jack, 82, and Queenie Gooding, 79, of Fletcher Road, in Ipswich, met each other while they were visiting Christchurch Mansion, in Christchurch Park, with friends in 1946.

A COUPLE who fell in love at Christmas and then decided to marry a year later are celebrating their diamond wedding.

Jack, 82, and Queenie Gooding, 79, of Fletcher Road, in Ipswich, met each other while they were visiting Christchurch Mansion, in Christchurch Park, with friends in 1946.

After a whirlwind romance, they got engaged a few weeks before Christmas in the same year and were married a year later on December 20 in 1947.

Mrs Gooding (nee Leggett) said: “A lot of people asked why we got married at Christmas but in those days things were different.

“There was no money to buy lots of presents and it wasn't quite as cold back then!”

The couple had a festive wedding in St Augustine's Church, in Felixstowe Road, with lots of family and friends.

Mrs Gooding said: “It was a wonderful day, there's only two people left who were there apart from us; my sister who was four and Jack's sister, Olive, and she was 21 at the time.”

The couple have three children, Linda, 58, Hazel, 55 and Catherine, 52, as well as eight grand-children and eight great-grandchildren.

When asked what the secret of a long and happy marriage is, Mrs Gooding said: “Give and take; I give, and he takes!”