A CROSS Hills couple celebrate their golden wedding anniversary tomorrow.

Thomas and Christine Mellin, of Aire Crescent, were married on January 8, 1966, in West Lane Methodist Church at Scartop.

Thomas, 74, and Christine, 69, grew up on neighbouring farms near there and both came from a long line of farming families.

When Thomas was 16, he went to work on his uncle's farm, Higher Burnt Hill, on Skipton Old Road, Colne.

Just months after he and Christine were married, Thomas's uncle retired from farming and the young couple took over Higher Burnt Hill on June 1, 1966.

However, a lot has changed for the Mellins since their early days of farming.

"When we started, we had 11 cows, six sows and 200 hens and we used to live on a fiver (£5) a week," said Thomas.

The Mellins ran a dairy farm up until 1990 when they started farming beef cattle and sheep.

When they retired from farming in 2000, they had around 600 head of cattle and 1,000 sheep.

Although they retired from running the family farm, both Thomas and Christine still work.

Christine is a kitchen assistant in a care home and Thomas helps the couple's son, John, on the family farm.

The Mellins have six children, Brian, Brenda, Ann, John, David and Susan, 18 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

As they have a large family and a lot of friends, Thomas and Christine celebrated their golden wedding with a meal at the Alma Inn, Laneshawbridge, in November.

"It was a brilliant day," said Thomas. "We couldn't wished for anything better."

In lieu of gifts, the couple requested donations to Yorkshire Air Ambulance and their special day raised £340 for the charity.

And, asked for the secret to 50 years of wedding bliss, the Mellins said they had always been happy because they did not fall out and sometimes had to "agree to disagree".

Christine added: "We also don't look back on the decisions we've made. We just get on with it."