A couple celebrating their 50th anniversary after meeting at Stevenage bus station in 1972 returned to the town centre site the day the bus station permanently closed, to mark the end of an era.

Pat Green - then Barrow - lived with her family in Stevenage's Newgate and said she new six months before she met her husband, Murray, that she was going to marry him.

She explained: "I was 17 and I'd be in my bedroom, doing my make-up or whatever, and I would see out of the window this guy walking up the street every day. I used to get up and have a little watch - he was gorgeous, with long blonde hair. I said to my sister, 'I'm going to marry him one day'."

As luck would have it, mutual friends led to a chance meeting at Stevenage bus station six months after Pat first saw Murray out of her bedroom window. Pat said: "I'm a little bit forward when I want something, so I went over. Then we had to run for our bus, and we sat together at the back.

"We got off at the same stop, so I put my arm in his and said 'seeing as you live in my street, you can walk me home.'

"We talked for an hour and he invited me on a date to a cricket function. We've never looked back."

Pat and Murray have been a couple for 50 years - married for 47 - and now have three grown-up children, eight grandchildren and two foster children.

They moved to Blackpool in 1990, but regularly return to Stevenage to visit family. "I loved growing up in Stevenage," Pat said. "My childhood memories are fantastic. I love Stevenage and I love going back to see family, when we always have a drive around to rekindle memories.

"I always walk through the bus station when we go back to Stevenage, but this particular day they were closing it. It's the end of an era, and it's sad in one way, but we have got to keep up with the times, for the youngsters.

"I like the look of the new bus interchange. The town has to move on and be regenerated."