By Charlotte Colombo

Sixty years on from their wedding day, a couple’s children organised a special surprise by taking them back to the church where they were wed.

Olave and Ken Smith’s love story began in 1954, when they were just sixteen.

Ken was visiting Melbury as part of a scouting trip and Olave, along with a friend, coincidentally cycled to the camp Ken was staying in.

With Ken residing in Peterborough and Olave staying in Evershot, it would have been easy for them to drift apart following their first meeting.

However, they didn’t let distance faze them and sustained a long-distance relationship through letters for years until they were married in St Osmund's Church, Evershot, on August 16, 1958.

This church was not only a wedding venue, but also a frequent gathering place for Olave’s parents, Louisa and George Frampton.

Louisa was known to be a committed member of the church.

Olave and Ken's daughter Sharon said it only seemed right that the important milestone took place in a building so pivotal to their family life.

In fact, family is everything to Olave and Ken.

Olave, as an only child, was integrated into Ken’s large and diverse family, and ever since then their family kept on growing.

For Sharon, this is what makes the coming-together of four different generations at the place their family began all the more poignant and meaningful.

Following their wedding, Olave and Ken put down roots in Peterborough, although due to Ken’s career in the RAF they often got to travel, too.

As Olave trained to be a nursery nurse, she had her eldest daughter Sharon.

This new family travelled to Aden, Yemen, in 1959, and then lived in Singapore for a further two years where Sharon’s sister, Selena, was born.

Following their return to Peterborough, Ken was often working abroad but, as before, he kept his relationship with Olave alive; with Sharon recalling her mother receiving up to three letters from her father a week.

So, what is the secret to their happy marriage?

Sharon said that its determination, communication and family.

She feels that family values were always centric to the way they lived their life, and that is certainly a cause for celebration.