“I TEMPTED fate,” Marion Weeding joked after celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary.

“Before we knew all this would happen, we said we would go away or have a party to mark the occasion. But it was just the three of us and a cake.”

The UK lockdown may have stopped the 87-year-old and her husband William, better known as Bill, from celebrating half a century of marriage in the way they had planned but Marion said a day spent at home with her husband and their son, Vince, was “quite enjoyable actually”.

The pair met in the 1960s when Marion organised outings for people living in Lewes, offering excursions to a range of shows and events.

Former blacksmith Bill, 80, said: “I found out through a friend I worked with, who knew her, that she had spare seats (to a show) and so I went along.

“We were friends for ages after that and we would go out, nothing romantic though. Then we started to see each other, then I married her.

“We sort of drifted together. You drift together and you decide to stay together.”

The pair married in 1970, three years after meeting for the first time, at the Church of St John in Lewes, and have lived together in the same house in the town ever since.

Asked what the secret is behind their five decades of matrimony, Marion admitted there had been ups and downs but said the two of them were interested in a lot of the same things.

“In normal times we go out quite a lot, and we both belong to the (Commercial Square) Bonfire Society,” she said.

But it was soon revealed that Bill had been through a steep learning curve after he and Marion started seeing each other, quickly taking up a series of hobbies to keep up with his busy bride.

She said: “My husband was not a bonfire boy to start with, but he joined after we met and made his own costume – I’m sure I forced him.

“My mum and dad were members and I was five when I first took part. I have been in it every year since.”

This was not Bill’s only newfound hobby.

“I introduced him to dancing too,” Marion said, “and we would go quite a lot. There would be some dances in Lewes, and we sometimes went to Brighton.

“I don’t think people dance anymore. They jig about a bit, but not what I would call dancing anyway.”

Bill said: “I still look on her as the same person I married. Although you notice changes when you look at photos, she still seems, to me, like the same person I married 50 years ago.”

Marion had kind words to match on their golden wedding anniversary, though she couldn’t resist poking a little fun at her husband.

She said: “He is pretty good, on the whole – he has his moments. We like a lot of the same things, though not so much on the telly.

“He is very good to me at the moment. He is only 80, a youngster, so he helps me a lot.”

Bill said: “She always used to look after me. I would come home from work and my dinner would be ready. Now I am repaying the compliment.”