Sixty years of marriage is a walk in the park for Moulton couple Ron and Joan

When Ron Wallwork and his wife-to-be Joan started dating he made it clear that athletics were the main thing in his life.

But that did not put her off and today, the couple who live in Moulton are celebrating their diamond wedding.

Romance blossomed for the pair, who both hail from Bolton, Lancashire, after a church youth group outing to Blackpool illuminations.

Ron, now 83, who had been a shot putter and a discus thrower, had turned his attentions to race walking.

By 1963 he had competed in his first international. “I thought I would be going to the 1964 Olympics but I only came fourth in the trial and we ended up getting married in Bolton instead,” said Ron

A keen sportswoman, Joan, now 81, had been captain of her local hockey team. She worked in the offices of a local hardware supply company while Ron was a compositor with a Bolton printing firm.

The couple spent their first year of married life living with Joan’s parents before they saved enough to buy their first house for the princely sum of £1,850 and in 1966 Ron took gold for England in the 20-mile walk at the Commonwealth Games held in Kingston, Jamaica, the first time the event had been included in the games’ repertoire.

At the age of 31 Ron went to night school to get his O-levels before embarking on a two-year course at college in Leicester to qualify as a youth and community officer.

By then the couple had two daughters, Linda and Susan, and while Ron studied Joan stayed with them in Bolton still working full time and making ends meet by taking in apprentice footballers for Bolton Wanderers.

In 1974 Ron was successful in an interview to head the soon-to-be opened New Astley Club in Newmarket. He was to remain at the helm of the club until May 2011 when he retired on his 70th birthday. Joan worked with him as a volunteer. “Working together cemented our relationship,” said Ron. “We always appreciated living in such a great place and the support we got from the likes of Robert Fellowes, who was the Jockey Club agent at the time, and town trainers including Geoff Wragg and John Winter.”

In 1993 the Astley celebrated its centenary and the following year Ron welcomed the Queen to the Fred Archer Way club organising a host of events to mark the milestone.

Made an MBE in 2002, in 2009 he was behind a fund-raising walking challenge when a host of celebrities supported jockey Richard Dunwoody as he walked 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours, mirroring the 1809 feat of Captain Barclay.