FOUR generations of the Lloyd family will be in Maiden Newton this weekend to toast a diamond couple.

Randall and Margaret Lloyd will welcome their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the village after celebrating sixty years of wedded bliss today.

The couple met as teenagers in St Albans, where they went to school together and were later married in the city.

After Randall spent more than 20 years working at the De Haviland aircraft company, they moved down to Maiden Newton after he got a job at the old mill in the village, which had been converted into a printing business.

They moved to Webbers Piece 19 years ago and are now the development’s longest serving residents – although not, Randall was keen to point out, its oldest.

Randall, 81 said: “We’ve been up here for 19 years and we’ve seen them all come and go.”

Randall used to play football for St Albans City in the Ithsmian League and can often be seen on the touchline of Maiden Newton and Cattistock’s home matches.

Margaret, 79, is a former boxmaker who lends her support to Cattistock couple Margaret and Peter Long’s Children of Fiji charity by creating shoeboxes that are filled with treats to be sent out to children on the Pacific Island.

The couple have two children, Helen and David, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who will all be joining them this weekend to mark the anniversary.

They said a tolerant attitude and a good sense of humour have been key to their happy marriage.

Margaret said: “He’s always let me do what I want and I’ve always let me do what he want.”

She also joked: “Really, I married him for his money but I haven’t found it yet.”

Randall added that: “You have got to have a sense of humour otherwise you’d just go completely barmy.”