A COUPLE who met 25 years ago at the Marlow Regatta were the event's special guests as they revisited the spot where their love first blossomed.

Andrew and Sarah Webb were presented with a bottle of champagne and flowers after being invited to the 14th Marlow Regatta and Town Festival by organisers to celebrate their landmark.

Mr Webb said: "It’s very special to be here, we were unaware of the flowers but we knew they were going to say a few words but not this.

"We are proof that you can come away from this event with something very special. It’s down to the regatta that we are together."

Mr Webb explained how Pimms played a key role in the couple meeting in 1989 at the Marlow Regatta - which was formally held in Higginson Park before it moved to Dorney Lake leading to the birth of the Town Regatta.

He said: "We originally met in the Marlow Donkey some time before the regatta but Sarah ignored me, so we met here six months later.

"I was with a few rugby mates, she came along with a friend who knew me and who introduced us. I was with my best man at the time and he actually couldn’t talk after having too many, so I was able to push him out of the way."

Mrs Webb added: "We went to the fair and he asked if I would like to go for a meal – the same restaurant that two years later he proposed to me in."

It was a family affair for the Webbs at the town regatta this year as the couple, who now live in Beaconsfield, were joined by their two daughters Alice and Phoebe – with the later taking to the water during Saturday’s competitions.

Mrs Webb said: "We come back when we can; we were here every year for the first ten years and our daughter Phoebe was rowing today. It’s a special place."