WHEN Dennis and Christine Essex celebrate their golden wedding tomorrow it will be with very bitter-sweet memories.

Fifty years ago the couple from Linden Lea, Lime Road, Princes Risborough, got married just a few hours after they heard news of the death of Dennis's brother, Leslie, as he made his way to be best man at their wedding.

Leslie, 29, his wife Olive and nine-month-old Linda were among 14 people killed when the London-bound express train in which they were travelling derailed at Doncaster on Friday, March 17, 1951.

"It was devastating for the whole family. There we were making last-minute wedding arrangements and suddenly we were living our worst nightmare," said Mrs Essex.

"We knew in our hearts it would have been Leslie's wish for the wedding to go on as planned so we went ahead with it," added Dennis.

Mr Essex's parents could not see their son getting married as they were identifying the bodies in Doncaster.

"It was very strange, as amidst the pain we also had to contend with all of the practical problems that always arise on every wedding day," said Mrs Essex.

"We asked Clifford Payne, the man my sister was courting and has since married, to stand in and we had to borrow my father's suit as Leslie's did not fit."

This year's anniversary celebrations will include a renewal of vows ceremony which will be blessed by their son-in-law, the Rev Robert Ward from Walsall, near Birmingham.

Family and friends will join in the celebrations at St Mary's Church Hall, Princes Risborough, tomorrow.

"The tragedy is never far from our minds but we will be appreciating our blessings," said Mr Essex.