A JAMAICAN couple who have lived in Gloucester for more than 60 years have celebrated a love that has lasted through the decades.

Drucilla and Joshua Lewis have celebrated their diamond wedding and paid tribute to each other and to the love that has seen them through the difficult times.

The couple, from Stroud Road, met in Jamaica in the late 1940s.

They were both born in Jamaica and grew up on the island.

When they met they courted for a short time, but said they both fell instantly in love, so decided to marry soon afterwards.

Mrs Lewis, 82, said: "We saw each other and fell in love at first sight.

"I was living in Spanish Town in St Catherine, and he was there driving buses. We saw each other at work and fell in love. We weren't very long courting."

The couple moved to Gloucester in the 1950s for work. Mr Lewis came over to the UK in 1954, and was followed by his wife a year later.

They settled in the area and raised a family.

Mrs Lewis, a former nurse, paid tribute to her husband and said the secret to a long and happy marriage was honesty and kindness.

"You have to be honest," she said.

"It takes two to make a good marriage work, not one doing all the giving and not the other. There has to be a balance. You have to be thoughtful and loving."

She praised her husband for his thoughtfulness and kindness, and the enthusiasm he had brought to the relationship for the past 60 years.

"He's a very kind-hearted and caring man," she said.

"He's so loving. We live day by day.

'We also both love Jesus and without our reading of The Bible and thoughts on God we might not have made it."

The pair celebrated their anniversary last month.

Mr Lewis, 83, added: "I met her in the work place. We started to talk then became friends, then started courting.

"She's a lovely woman".