A HUSBAND and wife who met at a church youth club in 1950 have renewed their vows 40 years after tying the knot.

Stuart Grove, 83, and Margaret Grove, 77, have two daughters and three grandchildren but are now living apart after Mr Grove had to move into a care home.

The devoted couple renewed their vows in a special celebration at his Bowes House care home, Hailsham, on their 40th wedding anniversary, in front of friends, family and the care team.

Mrs Grove said: "It was really special. We had talked about renewing our vows for a long time and I thought it would be a nice thing to do. So that's what we did, and it was so well organised. We had a psalm and hymn, Love Divine, that we had at our original wedding.

"It's quite hard him being there - no-one expected this to happen - but he is so well looked after."

Mr and Mrs Grove were married on October 26, 1968, and went on to have two daughters, Geraldine and Jacqueline, and three grandchildren, Sam, Bretema and Coral.

Mr Grove, from Morden, Surrey, was one of nine children, and worked as a foreman at a sheet metal factory in Eastbourne until he retired in 1999.

In his younger years his hobby was looking after budgies, entering lots of competitions with the Budgerigar Society and had a prize-winning budgie.

His wife was born in India, one of four children, before her family moved back to to the UK in 1949.

Asked about the secret of their long, happy marriage, Mrs Grove said: "I am not sure, really - we just seem to get on. Of course we have had our arguments, but we seemed to find plenty of time to do things together. We enjoyed going to Spain to see the grandchildren and walking with the dogs."

Helena Barrow, home manager at Bowes House, said it was a wonderful occasion and staff were honoured to witness the renewal of their vows.