A MARRIAGE made to last began when a young man literally fell head over heels for his future wife.

For Wallace Simmons was swept off his feet while roller-skating at a Bradford rink in the 1930s - a young lady called Marian helped him up and they have skated through life together ever since.

Today (April 8) Wallace and Marian Simmons celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with four generations of their family in Fairhaven.

Fylde Mayor Anne Smith was calling in for a champagne toast to add sparkle to their diamond day and a nephew and neice were travelling from Canada on a surprise visit.

Married in 1939, Mr and Mrs Simmons spent the 1940s in their native Yorkshire helping the war effort in the woollen trade before coming to Blackpool to open a guest house in 1954.

Soon they were running a hotel right in the centre of Blackpool, overlooking the old Central Station, where they looked after thousands of holidaymakers over the years.

Retiring in 1968, they moved to Suffolk Road, Marton, where the still-active couple helped run a church over-60s club for many years until moving to their Inner Promenade home in Fairhaven nine years ago.

The couple - still lively at 88 and 81 - have a son, Malcolm, who works for the Land Registry in the Wirral where he lives with his wife Valerie, and a daughter Brenda, who with her husband Keith Bell runs rest homes in Blackpool, together with four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

And among the younger generation, several have put their inline-skates on to follow in the tracks of their roller-mad forebears. Who knows, one day they too may fall head over wheels in 60 years of love.

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