Barry and Pat Roberts celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at the weekend with a big party — and it was while reminiscing through their old photos that they chanced upon a picture of Barry’s first car.

At the beginning of the 1960s Barry was working as a butcher in Wolverhampton’s Queen Street and was then the proud owner of a 600cc Norton Dominator bike.

He and a work friend used to set themselves up for the day by strolling round the corner to the Peerless Milk Bar for a ‘double decker’ sandwich, comprising of three pieces of bread with layers of bacon and egg in between.

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Barry’s friend challenged him to chat up the girl who served the sandwiches for a dare. He did and the couple hit it off. Barry and Pat married in February 1961 and have been together ever since.

Barry can recall travelling up to the Isle of Man for the TT Races soon after their wedding — and subsequently having to trade in his beloved bike for a three-wheeler when Pat fell pregnant with the first of their three children.

The new vehicle was a stylish-looking Berkeley T60 which was a good deal sportier than its puny engine output of 18bhp might suggest.

“It had a 328cc two-stroke Excelsior engine which was surprisingly powerful,” says Barry. “Even though it was only a three wheeler it was good for 70mph.”

Reverse gear had been disabled, which Barry soon corrected, and he recalls there being no door handles on the outside.

“You used to have to put your hand through the windows to get in.”

Berkeley cars were produced between October 1956 and December 1960 at Berkeley Coachworks at its Biggleswade factory in Bedfordshire.

The three-wheeled T60 was launched in August 1959 and became Berkeley’s most successful model, with 1,700 being made, prior to the firm’s bankruptcy in 1961.

The T60 was particularly popular with motorcyclists who could drive it on their bike licence. Barry’s Berkeley ultimately developed a serious mechanical fault and car ended up being repossessed because of problems obtaining parts.

He went back to a bike for 18 months before changing career and becoming a truck and later coach driver. Barry and Pat are both 70 and live in Moxhull Gardens, New Invention.

They have two sons and a daughter and had their gold wedding celebration at Short Heath Liberal Club on Saturday.