When Fay and Werner Bittner married in a Brislington church in 1969, the groom could not speak English.

Language was just one of the obstacles the Anglo-German couple had to deal with in their early days of married life.

But the pair beat all the odds, and 40 years after their whirlwind romance they have celebrated their ruby wedding anniversary with family and friends at their Stockwood home.

The couple met when retired teacher Mrs Bittner was a languages student visiting Saltzgitter-Bad in Germany to brush up on her German. Engineer Mr Bittner had come home to visit his parents in the village.

When Mrs Bittner returned to Bristol, aged 21, her family were concerned that the German man she was planning to marry in St Luke's Church might not make it into the country.

But he did, with a little help from the bride's father, Roy Jefferies, who vouched for Mr Bittner when immigration officials questioned him at Heathrow.

Once married, the Bittners also faced problems when attempts were made to conscript Mr Bittner, 59, into the German army.

He also found it difficult to find work in England because of visa arrangements and six years ago he battled bowel cancer. But the couple are still going strong.

Mrs Bittner said: "It was a whirlwind romance. I was a student, my husband was between jobs and didn't speak any English.

"We had quite a lot of hassle; he was called up for military service but in the end they let that go.

"There were problems because there was no common market then. But eventually Werner got British nationality."

Mr Bittner now speaks English fluently, and has even developed a Bristolian accent.

Mrs Bittner said that for the first year of marriage her husband read newspapers and watched their black and white television.

During the couple's first year together they lived in Newcastle, where Mrs Bittner was studying, and her husband learned English from a Scottish man called Paddy who worked with him in a bakery.

When the couple first returned to Bristol people thought he was from Newcastle because he had picked up a Geordie twang.

The couple have two children, Jamie, 34, and Hayley, 32, and a granddaughter on the way.

Mrs Bittner, 61, who celebrated 40 years of marriage on Saturday, said: "I don't think anyone thought it would last.

"The first year was hard. We had no money and Werner could not speak English and up in Newcastle we endured a hard winter.

"It's about give and take, understanding each other and being friends."

Mr Bittner, who works at Bristol University, said: "We wanted to stay together and Fay had to go back to university so we broke up or I came over here, which I did.

"And now I find it strange when I go back to Germany. I count myself as a Bristolian."