THEY met when they were just 16 and spent a year apart.

But now a former top Romsey police officer and his wife have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Peter and Edna Kemp, now both 80, met as members of a youth club.

Edna was encouraged by friends to go and watch Peter play football in Portsmouth as he was a keen sportsman.

She said she remembered him running across the pitch looking “a bit goofy” but agreed to go out on a date with him.

They went to a local cinema to see the latest release Botany Bay.

They courted for three months but things petered out until Peter, who had joined the Royal Navy, asked when he was on leave if he could write to Edna – and she agreed.

Peter was two years at sea to complete his National Service, then they got engaged and they were married in Cosham, Portsmouth in 1956.

Edna gave up her work with Vosper Ship Builders in Portsmouth and they moved to Petersfield and went on to have five children; three sons and two daughters.

Peter began his long career as a police officer at Petersfield, with a starting salary of £8.50 a week. He also worked at Fareham, Damersham near Fordingbridge and Lymington. But he will be a familiar face to residents in Romsey where he was stationed from 1976 and spent five years as chief inspector for the town and surrounding areas.

This was during a time when the area became the focus for a number of high profile events. Peter particularly remembers the time when Lord Mountbatten was killed and when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married and spent part of their honeymoon at Broadlands. Both the funeral and honeymoon made national headlines.

The newly married royal couple arrived at Romsey station and were taken by car through the streets lined with people waving union jack flags, Edna said. She told how her husband was called out because someone had been found in the river near Broadlands trying to get pictures of the couple.

“It was really funny. Somebody had gone in there with a snorkel,” she said.

The couple also met the Queen when she attended Lord and Lady Romsey’s wedding at Romsey Abbey.

Peter retired after 35 years, 15 years as Chief Inspector.

The couple, who live in West End, have ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. They celebrated their six decade milestone with a lunch at a restaurant owned by one of their sons, where Peter made a speech, describing his wife as “an angel, throughout the years”.