As Denis Armstrong glanced across the dancefloor he proclaimed the woman he saw in the distance would become his wife.

And on Thursday, October 6 he and that same woman, June, celebrated 60 years as man and wife.

The couple first met while they were both on holiday with friends in Blackpool, meeting at a dance at the Tower Ballroom.

But Mr Armstrong returned to the RAF and it was a chance meeting at the Cambridge Road Baths in Huddersfield some two months later which brought them back together.

Mr Armstrong said: “I was at a dance and I saw this girl in a red satin dress and I said to my friend: ‘I’m going to marry her.’

“He asked who she was and I said I didn’t know, but I soon found out.”

Denis and June Armstrong on their wedding day
Denis and June Armstrong on their wedding day

Mrs Armstrong, nee Taylor, was 16 at the time and her husband was 18. He was a fighter plotter in the RAF and she worked in textiles.

They wed at Meltham’s St Bartholomew’s Church and hired a double decker bus to take their friends and family to Collinsons Cafe in Huddersfield for a reception.

“She looked gorgeous on our wedding day and still does,” said Mr Armstrong.

In celebration of their diamond day, the couple danced once again in the Tower Ballroom, taking to the floor for a waltz.

They stayed in the same hotel, Hotel Arthington, and in the same room where they honeymooned and a had big celebration for family and friends on their return.

The Meltham couple have children, Paul and Dawn, grandchildren, James, Thomas and Tanya, and a great-grandchild, Teddy-Lee.

Mr Armstrong left the RAF and became a sales manager, later forming Castle Hill Business Services where he employed 26 people.

He was the founder of the Meltham Gilbert and Sullivan Society and has appeared in shows over the last 52 years. Mrs Armstrong is a keen swimmer, and, of course, they both enjoy dancing.

Asked what the secret of a happy marriage is, Mr Armstrong joked: “Keeping a deaf ear when I’m in trouble. And knowing my place in the pecking order is after the dog!”