JOYCE and George Head are part of a very rare breed - they have been married for 60 years.

The companionable couple from Chorley Old Road, Doffcocker, still laugh at shared memories and still care for each other.

They met on the Prom at Blackpool when Joyce was a 16 year-old mill worker on a day out and Geroge a 19 year-old RAF rookie billeted in the resort. War interrupted their courtship, but regular letters from Joyce kept their friendship alive and when George returned this blossomed into love and they married

They have spent almost all their life together in Bolton and have a large extended family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren most of whom also live in the borough.

Sixty years is a long time to be married, but Joyce is always amazed at other people's surprise at this marital longevity.

They belong to a stoic breed that "just got on with it" whether circumstances included disagreements, upsets, sadnesses or disappointments.

Joyce cannot understand how young couples split up at what seems like the first problem because when she married it was for life, and that was part of the wonder of it all.

We don't set much store by staying power these days - whether it's in a relationship or in a job - and perhaps we should.

"Flexibility" has become a key word and we appear happy to extend it to lifestyle, moving on to the next partner if the current one proves unsatisfactory.

Relationships, though, are usually worth more than that. They can blossom and change into something satisfying in different ways at different times, and if you rush off in the Spring of a relationship, you might just miss something more rewarding in the Autumn of it. Stick-at-ability is now decried as old-fashioned but, as Joyce and George prove, it can have wonderful results.