The couple chose the same day and the same venue when they said "I do again" five decades later.

And thanks to the Shields Gazette, they even managed to have the same chief bridesmaid.

Dennis and Pat renewed their vows at the People's Mission, on the Lawe Top, South Shields, on Saturday, March 15, to celebrate their golden wedding.

And the couple's celebrations were made even more special after Mrs Couling was reunited with the chief bridesmaid she had not seen for 47 years thanks to an appeal in the Gazette.

She said: "It was very exciting when I got in back in touch with my bridesmaid Marjorie Fowler after so long.

"The Gazette printed my appeal to find her, and her niece read it and passed the message along. Marjorie rang me within the hour. I couldn't believe it when I heard her voice. It was like we'd never been apart."

Mrs Couling, 70, who now lives in Brighton, has since kept in touch with her long-lost friend by telephone and e-mail and has enjoyed getting re-acquainted after an absence which spanned nearly five decades.

Mrs Couling met her husband Dennis, 72, at St Michael's Church youth club at Westoe.

After they tied the knot, they lived in Alverthorpe Street, in South Shields, before moving to Brighton.

The couple's three children and five grandchildren were all there to witness the ceremony this time around, as was Mrs Couling's brother Billy, who made a surprise trip from his home in New Zealand to be with his sister on her special day.

Mrs Couling's younger sister Jean Stephenson, who was a seven-year-old bridesmaid first-time round, said: "It was brilliant when Pat saw Billy. I told her to go in while I went to meet a friend. When she was saw it was Billy, she couldn't stop smiling."

Mrs Stephenson, 57, of South Shields, added: "I remember the wedding when I was a bridesmaid, because I got wrong off the photographer. It was so cold I was shivering and he told me to stop shaking, but I couldn't.

"I didn't get wrong this time though. It was fantastic."