A Little Wymondley couple who have lived in the same house for 63 years celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary on Wednesday.
William Barker, born in 1919 in Titmore Green near Stevenage, first met Joan, from Graveley, when she used to cycle past him on her way to work as a housemaid.
Their daughter Patricia Ansell said: “I think my father took a fancy to her and they began courting when she was 17 and he was 23.”
William, now 96, worked at the Education Supplies Association factory in Stevenage from the age of 15 until he retired.
He married Joan on June 22, 1946, at St Mary’s Church in Graveley, and they spent their honeymoon at Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex.
The couple lived in lodgings in Great Wymondley and then with William’s parents, until they moved into their own house in Little Wymondley and have been there ever since it was a new build.
“It’s a nice community,” Patricia said. “when they first retired they belonged to a lunch club.
“They also did a bit of travelling in South Africa and Australia to visit relatives.
“It was nice for them, because when we were younger they just had the one holiday a year.”
William and Joan’s children Patricia, now 67, Susan, 64, and 59-year-old Kevin have given them seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
“They have had a very happy marriage,” Patricia said. “They are very fond of each other – sometimes my father still serenades my mother at home. They’re a very caring couple.”
A small family tea party to celebrate the milestone is planned in the coming weeks.
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