Chairman hosts afternoon tea for platinum wedding couples
Not everyone can boast to have something in common with HM The Queen and HRH Prince Phillip but that’s exactly what three Buckinghamshire couples can say as they all mark 70 years of marriage having tied the knot within the same 12 months as the royal couple.
To mark such a momentous milestone Patricia Birchley, Chairman of Buckinghamshire County Council, invited all three couples to a celebratory afternoon tea at the Judges Lodgings in Aylesbury today (Monday).
Albert and Audrey Greenleaf, from Great Kingshill, celebrated their 70th anniversary on 14 June. The couple have two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The pair met through work when a trip to the cinema aftertheir shiftblossomed into a lasting romance. They have lived in Wembley and Essex but moved to High Wycombe in 1962.
Audrey now suffers with severe dementia and Albert is her full time carer at home but that is something he wouldn’t have any other way,Albert explains: “I look after her, she is the love of my life.”
Joyce and Leslie Hopson were married in early 1948 at Wycombe Parish Church having met through work. The couple have two children, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren. They are proud to have reached this milestone anniversary and say they have always worked through any problems and never gone to bed without saying goodnight to one another. They also still kiss each other goodbye and hello every time one of them goes out, their daughter Elainereveals.
The third couple Kathleen and Barry Wright were, unfortunately, not able to attend at the last moment.
Married on 7 August 1947, Kathleen and Barry met at a dance in Wycombe Town Hall when Barry was home from leave from the RAF where he worked as an instrument maker. The couple were married in Athlone in the Republic of Ireland where Kathleen’s family are from.
The couple, who have one son, ran the local newsagents in Penn for over 20 years. Kathleen puts the success of their long marriage down to being kind to each other.
Speaking after the event Patricia Birchley said: “It was a pleasure to meet and celebrate with these couples who have achieved something that not many of us are able to. Their stories are all different but the one thing they each have in common is their obvious love and devotion to one another which is still going strong after 70 years together – a wonderful achievement, congratulations to them all.”