A LOVE of dancing transformed childhood dislike into teenage romance for a couple celebrating their diamond wedding tomorrow, Thursday Northwich couple Les and Nora Hallwood first met when they were nine and Nora was friends with Les’s cousin.

But the pair, who live in Kestrel Road, did not hit it off straightaway.

Les said: “I knew Nora when she was nine but she didn’t like me – it took her 10 years to get over that.”

The couple, both 79, married on October 29, 1949, after meeting up again at a dance in 1948, when they both lived in Runcorn.

Les said: “Dancing was all the rage then and we had the choice of about eight different dance halls on a Saturday night.”

Nora said: “We met in the August, got engaged in February on Valentine’s Day and got married in the October.”

The Hallwoods had 84 guests at their post-war winter wedding, which Les remembers vividly.

He said: “In those days no-one had a car so all of the relatives had to be brought in by taxi.

“I had to be in church before anyone else so I was in there for an hour before the wedding, and there was no heat in church then so I was blue when we came out.”

Nora, who worked at Irwins grocers when they got married, said family saved up all their rationed dried fruit for the wedding cake, her wedding dress was second hand and one of the most extravagant items for the day was a pair of nylons, which cost £1.

As an apprentice shipwright, Les earned just £3 a week.

The couple, who still enjoy dancing and are members of the Cheshire Retired Caravan Club, honeymooned in Blackpool and their first home was with Nora’s granddad.

They bought a bungalow in Weston Village 10 years later and moved to Kestrel Road in 1984.

Just a year after they married, Les was called up to the Royal Signals, where he was a morse code instructor at Catterick camp, in Yorkshire.

After his two years of National Service, Les became a foreman shipwright on the Manchester Ship Canal.

He was also a JP in Halton for 26 years.

The couple will celebrate with family and friends, including daughter Kay and grandchildren Tim, 15, and Beth, 12, at a meal at Fourways.

And as for the secret of a long and happy marriage, Les said: “It’s about understanding and not demanding.”