A COUPLE whose name is linked to one of Oxfordshire's top toy and sports shops are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

Gordon and Betty Giles began the Carterton business from small beginnings in 1960 and have seen it grow into a major retailer of sportswear and equipment, bicycles and a wide range of toys and games.

But they are known as much for their involvement in the town's community life as for Giles Sports.

Mr Giles, now 85, was born and brought up in Brize Norton village and met his Devon-born wife while both were serving in the RAF.

"I was a wireless operator just come back from Germany and she was a Ministry of Transport driver," said Mr Giles.

"It was at Lasham in Hampshire and I was one of her passengers."

advertisement "It was not love at first sight, just two days later.

"We went to a cinema in Basingstoke and on the way back the bus broke down.

"We had to walk seven miles with snow on the ground.

"That was the start of getting to know each other."

They were married at a village church in south Devon on March 27, 1948, and settled in west Oxfordshire.

They then bought a smallholding to provide flowers, eggs and vegetables for a mobile shop.

The idea of running a permanent shop was, they say, a joint brainwave and it started out as a mini-market, selling "anything from firewood to fish."

They moved into a bungalow in Corbett Road, Carterton, only moving to their current retirement home in the town at Church View eight years ago.

They have two children, Lester and Linda, and four grandchildren.

Mrs Giles, now 82, said: "We never fall out. If we don't agree, we just shut up for ten minutes and then change the subject.

"You have to have trust in everything if you want to get on together.

"Plus, we've always had a close family."

Their son and daughter now run the business, which has expanded over the years just as Carterton has.

Both Mr and Mrs Giles were leading lights in saving the town's Alvescot Road recreation ground from development as well as becoming involved in the youth club.

He was a former Brize Norton and then Carterton parish councillor as well as being a founder member of the town's Chamber of Trade.