Tolerance and a sense of humour are the secrets behind a happy marriage, according to a couple celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

Bob Ferry, 86, and his wife, Flo, 81, from Carshalton, met 62 years ago at a wedding, where they complained all the guests appeared to be elderly.

Their time together could have been foreshortened were it not for the actions of Bob, a retired electrical engineer, aboard the HMS Welshman during World War II.

After the minesweeper was sunk by a torpedo in the Mediterranean, he sent out the SOS signal that resulted in the crew being rescued.

Last week Flo said: “We just clicked when we first met and became good friends.

“He did a lot of evening classes, so I never got fed up.

“Tolerance and sense of humour are what has kept us together all these years.”

The great-great-grandparents toasted 60 years of marriage with multiple generations of their family, including their three children, Jacqueline, Stephen and Patricia.

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