Two former Oxford Lord Mayors will be celebrating 50 years of wedded bliss tomorrow.

Childhood sweethearts Bryan and Beryl Keen, of Liddell Road, Cowley, were married at the Holy Trinity Church, Norwich, on November 16, 1957.

The pair, both 73, went to school together in Norwich and knew each other since they were five, but did not begin courting until they were 17.

Mrs Keen said: "The church had a fair and we met again and we just went along with each other and got on very well."

Mr Keen had been on leave from the RAF and the couple's first date was to a speedway meeting in Norwich.

They continued to meet while he was on leave and were married the year after he left the services, celebrating their honeymoon in London.

The couple both became involved in the Labour Party together, with Mr Keen becoming a secretary at the Norwich branch and then the couple moved to Oxford after he got a job in 1979 as agent to the Labour Party there.

Both became councillors, with Mr Keen still serving as a member of Oxford City Council and chairman of its Cowley area committee, and both were Lord Mayors - Mrs Keen in 1996-1997 and Mr Keen in 2004-2005.

Mrs Keen added: "I think if you talk together and look at things together that's the main thing."

Mr Keen added: "You have differences of opinion but you just accept each other and discuss every- thing."

They have a son and a daughter and two grand- children.

They plan to celebrate with 40 members of family and friends at a party at the Indoor Bowls Club, in Sandy Lane West, tomorrow.