Pensioners Joan Ball and Jean Stead love watching complete strangers tying the knot.

For the pair, who work at the British Heart Foundation shop in High Street, Skipton, have been adopted as the town's first official wedding witnesses.

Their unusual role came about by chance after a couple from Halifax walked into the shop and asked them to witness their wedding.

They are now the only official witnesses in North Yorkshire, Keighley or Bradford.

Jean, who is single, has witnessed two weddings so far this year and 64-year-old Joan, who has been wed to Richard, 72, for 43 years, has witnessed one. And they have both acted as witnesses at another ceremony.

Joan, a mother of six children and 11 grandchildren, said it all started when "a couple came to Skipton to get married because they didn't want anybody to know in Halifax.

"They didn't know how to get witnesses so the register office told them to try looking for a witness in a charity shop."

After that there was "a couple from Skipton who had been living together for 25 years and decided to get married. They telephoned here and we made arrangements to go on the day".

Jean, who like Joan lives in Skipton, said: "We enjoy it very much. It's a jolly occasion - and we always get a donation of £10 for the British Heart Foundation!"

She said that a system had been set up so that if someone wanted a witness, the charity shop manager was contacted and arrangements were made for herself or Joan to attend.

Registration services manager Robin Mair said Skipton was the only office in the county which had "adopted" its own witnesses.

"There are informal arrangements such as in Harrogate where people at a nearby hairdressers help out when witnesses are needed, but Skipton is the only place with a formal agreement," he said.

"The arrangement is great for everyone. The charity wins, our wedding goes ahead and the couple are happy."

He said the law in Britain did not require the witnesses to know the couple. Their function was to actually see the ceremony taking place and witness it.

Register offices in Keighley and Bradford do not operate a similar system. If couples turn up without witnesses they have to find a member of the public willing to help, or perhaps volunteers among people attending another wedding.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.