SPANISH sunshine awaits for Frank and Christiane Hind as they prepare to jet off to Lanzarote to celebrate 50 golden years.

The Hartford couple are to fly out to the island at the end of this month for a week-long holiday.

The trip is part of celebrations for their golden wedding anniversary, which include a family meal at The Plough in Whitegate.

Mr and Mrs Hind were married on January 30, 1965 at St Wilfrid’s Church in Northwich, nine months after meeting at a dance at The Strand dance hall in Winsford.

Mrs Hind, 71, was born in Belgium, and came to Britain when she was 20 to live with her aunt and uncle, Romanie and Charlie Bell from Rudheath.

Romanie is due to celebrate her 90th birthday next month, and her late husband worked at a local ambulance station.

The Strand was the venue for one of the dances organised by the ambulance service, and Mr Hind, 74, attended the dance where he met his bride-to-be with a group of friends.

At the time Mrs Hind worked at the Lomas and Spencer sewing factory in Rudheath, and Mr Hind was a boilermaker for ICI at The Avenue workshops.

The couple have two children, David Hind, who lives in Winnington, and featured in the Guardian last year after donating a kidney to his son Neil, who had been diagnosed with a condition causing kidney failure.

David works at Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre at Tarporley, and their daughter Linda is a nurse practitioner and lives in the East Midlands.

They have five grandchildren, and Mr Hind worked for ICI for 37 years as a boilermaker, a training officer and a line manager, followed by 12 years as a technician at St Nicholas Catholic High School in Northwich.

Mrs Hind worked at a salt works at Wincham and as a domestic assistant at The Grange Hospital.

Mr Hind has been a member of Heyrose Golf Club at Pickmere for 20 years, supports Manchester City and is a former member of bowling clubs at Winnington Park Recreation Club and Castle Private Club.

They enjoy foreign holidays, and their favourite destination is Corfu, which they have visited on 11 occasions. They also visit Belgium to see Mrs Hind’s sisters and brother, who live in Ostend.

“We enjoy staying in a little village in Corfu, which is very quiet and relaxing, and apart from the golf we do everything together, which I think is important in a marriage,” said Mr Hind.