‘NEVER falling out’ is the secret to a long marriage according to Barnsley’s longest-married couple.

Donald and Margaret Shenton, of Moorland Terrace, Cudworth, met when they were 17, after attending a dance at a church.

Donald, who was born in Staincross, had to complete two years’ national service but when he returned in 1949, he proposed to Margaret and the pair married on February 18.

“My dad said that I was too young to get married because I was 21 and Margaret was 20,” said Donald, 92.

“Following our wedding we moved in with Margaret’s mum on Newland Avenue, Cudworth, where we remained for four years but we would also stay in Staincross because at the time we also had a house there on Pye Avenue.

“Finally, we settled on Moorland Terrace in the house that used to belong to Sir Michael Parkinson, who is a good friend of ours.”

As a married couple, Donald worked on the railways as a signalling man for 49 years, before becoming a councillor for the Cudworth and Urban District Council where he was the finance chairman.

Don also opened the Dorothy Hyman centre and was a school governor as well as a magistrate for 18 years.

In 1968, Donald and Margaret met the Queen when Don was awarded with a BEM medal on the Queen’s birthday honours list.

Margaret, now 91, worked as a dinnerlady at Birkwood primary school for more than 20 years.

The couple had one son, Michael and they have two grandchildren, one of whom died when he was aged seven and they have a great-granddaughter.

The couple celebrated their anniversary with their family at home.

Donald said: “We’ve had many wonderful years and we’ve been on so many holidays. We’ve always had similar interests and we never fall out and combined with love and all the other clichés, I think that’s the secret to long marriage.”