For Pat Gosby turning 18 was about more than extra freedom from her parents and being able to have a tipple.

As messages of congratulations for her milestone birthday flooded in so too did warm wishes of a different kind – as her 18th birthday was also the day she took her wedding vows.

Pat, of Downing Road, Dagenham, has just celebrated her 50th anniversary with husband Terry, 70, and reminisces back to that special time of their lives with fondness.

“We were both working at the same firm, a factory in the East End,” she said. “I said I’d never go out with someone I worked with but when I left he asked me out and it went from there.

“We got married at St Stephen’s church in Manor Park.”

The Post itself had a part to play on the day, September 29, as we featured a story about Pat walking down the aisle just as she became a fully-fledged adult.

Pat, 68, joked: “They bumped me for the wedding pictures and the Post was there to get it. It wasn’t funny.”

To celebrate the special occasion in style, the Gosbys organised a pub lunch with their four daughters, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild on September 29.

Samantha Gosby, their 41-year-old daughter laughed: “They moan about each other constantly but somehow it just works!”

Pat is adamant that the key to a happy marriage is good communication.

“Treat it as a partnership and work through your troubles,” she said.

“That’s what we’ve done.”