A COUPLE will mark six decades of marriage with a family get-together.

Retired farmers Alan and Mandy Nichol, who live on a farm in Hetherington near Wark, had their 60th wedding anniversary on Monday, October 2.

The pair received a congratulatory card from King Charles and Queen Camilla for their anniversary.

Mandy, 88, said: "We thought it was lovely. It was a lovely photo of them both. We were just quite sorry we were that age to get one," she laughed.

Mandy said the pair are having a party at their daughter Charlotte's house in Simonburn to mark their anniversary with a few of their oldest friends.

Mandy said she has lived in the same property for eighty years, where she and Alan, 86, have lived since they married in Wark in 1963.

The pair married with 70 guests in the reception at The Battlesteads in Wark.

"Unfortunately, there are only five people left that were at the wedding. That's our best man John Thompson, Alan's sister Judy Low, and a very good friend, Annie Stevenson. It's just the five of us left that were there." 

Mandy said she and Alan have a lot of common interests including farming, horses and racing.

"We're very lucky the age we are, we have so many nice younger friends who look after us very well wherever we go."

They worked on their Hetherington farm during the foot-and-mouth tragedy in 2001.

"Unfortunately we lost our stock with foot-and-mouth, then we retired and we let the farm out. We still have the farm but we let it and live in the house.

"We've never been the same since we lost our stock. It was a terrible experience," Mandy said. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It was the most awful thing to happen."

Speaking of their future plans, Mandy said they hope to devote time to their interests in country life, such as racing and hunting.

Mandy and Alan have their daughter, Charlotte Ridley, aged 54, and two grandchildren, Matthew, aged 23, and Laura, 18.

"We're very lucky," Mandy said. "I would say I've had a very lucky, happy life. We've always got on just like any married couple, you put up with a lot!"