IT was a diamond day for a Whitchurch couple last week, when they celebrated 60 years of marriage on Thursday. John and Sheila Barrett enjoyed a party for family and friends on Saturday in Torquay, a place full of memories; where they were married in St John?s Church and where they lived for many years together. The couple first met when they were just 16. John said: ?I was from Bromley and we were bombed out. We moved down to Torquay in 1940 and met at the Imperial Hotel. Sheila was a junior telephonist and I was doing my catering training,? John was the club manager, the commodore, until 1981, but said his happiest days were spent with Torbay Borough Council and Dartmouth Naval College, where he catered for guests including the Queen and Princess Diana. Sheila said: ?We married at 19, three days before VJ Day. John was in the 16th Brigade out in the Far East, and I was in the Post Office savings branch. I didn?t see him again for two years, although we were writing to each other every day.? Once reunited after the war the couple stayed and worked together. Sheila said: ?I was his barmaid for 16 years. We always worked very well together. We had our rows many a time, but we got over them. I accepted that at work he was the boss, and at home, I was the boss!?. John and Sheila had three children. Son David is in the police force, Evelyn is a receptionist at Moorside ? they sadly lost their daughter Jacqueline to cancer. ?We?ve got six grand children and six great grandchildren, with one grandson, who has just moved to Australia with his Australian wife?. Celebrating 60 years is no small feat, and the couple have received many cards and flowers from friends, family and well wishers, including one very regal card from Queen Elizabeth: ?We?ve had lovely cards from our children and grandchildren and they said what an example we have set them, which is lovely?. Having been through a lot, the couple are still very close. Sheila said: ?We are both Pisces and were told it wouldn?t work ? we got married, but then I had to work to keep him?. John is also aware of how lucky they have been to be with one another for such a long time: ?We share everything and we don?t hide anything. There?s a lot of loyalty.? The couple have become even closer since Sheila was diagnosed with cancer ? she said he has been ?wonderful? and has taken over many of the household chores including the cooking. John said: ?The vows are always, in sickness and in health, and you must remember them?.