A BLIND date at the cinema resulted in a lasting love for a Portland couple who celebrate a golden milestone today.

Ian and Betty Stone were set up by friends as teenagers and their relationship has gone from strength to strength with ‘laughter and equality’ being key factors in their successful marriage.

Today the couple will be celebrating their 50 golden years with a party tonight for friends and family at The Heights Hotel on Portland.

Betty, of Weston, said: “We met when I was 15 and my husband was 16. It was a blind date – we were set up by school friends.

“I was living in Weymouth and going to Weymouth Grammar School and Ian was on Portland and attending Tophill School.

“Our friends just thought we’d get on with each other.

“It was called the Odeon cinema in the Park Street area, neither of us can remember what film we saw.

“We were both a bit shy but we saw each other again and off it went.

“We were much the same in our likes and dislikes and we grew on one another. Ian was good-looking and always popular.”

The couple married on Saturday September 16, 1961 at All Saints Church in Wyke Regis, when Betty was 20 and Ian was 21.

Both worked for the Ministry of Defence, Ian as a senior professional technology officer and Betty as a financial officer.

They had two sons, Colin, now 48, and David, now 45.

Betty added: “It’s been a very happy marriage.

“We always see the funny side of things – we’re both retired and just enjoy having nice holidays when we can.

“We’ve always lived on Portland. We love Portland and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”

Ian said the secret to a successful marriage was ‘just being fair and square’.

He added: “I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight as we were set up on a blind date but it didn’t take very long for us to realise it was going to be a good thing.”