Three diamond couples will celebrate 60 years of marriage this week.
Kevin and Marion Wissett, Charles and Lucy Dawkins and Tom and Jean Booth are all delighted to celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary this week with friends and family.
Kevin Wissett, 79, and Marion Wissett, 78, of Fern Avenue Oswaldtwistle will celebrate their anniversary on Thursday, September 25.
The couple were teenage sweethearts and met at school aged just 15, it took a year for Kevin to pluck up the courage to ask Marion out,
The retired salesman said: “We got to know each other slowly, it took me a while before I asked her out. She thought I was a cheeky young chap.
“I was 19 and Marion was 18 when we got married, she is a super wife, a super mum and a super grandmother.
“I think the most important thing for a long marriage is that whilst you may have arguments you have to have tolerance.
Marion added that the pair had a great party to celebrate their anniversary on Saturday, September 20 which was attended by their four children and nine grandchildren.
Charles Dawins, 85, and Lucy Dawkins, 84 of Oakwood Road, Accrington will also celebrate sixty years of marriage on Thursday, September 25.
Former traffic police officer Charles, who now cares full time for his wife who suffers with dementia, said he had been ‘very lucky’ to have met the ‘right person’.
The dad of three and grandfather to one said: “I met Lucy at a dance hall in Levenshulme, it was a chance meeting really. I was from Wythenshawe and she was from Westhoughton.
“I asked her to dance and she turned me down the first time, but I was persistent and next time I saw her I asked her again and she said yes.
“She was a lovely lady, absolutely delightful. Twelve months after we danced we got married, I have been very lucky to have met the right person for me.”
Jean and Tom Booth will celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary on Sunday, September 28.
The couple, who live on Westwood Street in Accrington, will celebrate with their family at the Sparth House Hotel in Clayton-le-Moors.
Daughter, Julie Nuttall, 53 and son, Graham, 56 will join them on their special day, as will their four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Tom and Jean met at one of the weekly dances held at the Ritz Ballroom in Accrington, shortly after Tom had completed his national service with the RAF. They married at St James Church in Accrington when Tom was 21 and Jean was 18.
After leaving the RAF Tom went to work in the mills around Accrington and Hyndburn, where he worked as a ‘tackler’, which involved tending to the looms and weaving machines.
Jean worked as a receptionist for the Accrington Observer at its old office in Eagle Street and as an employee at Hyndburn Borough Council.
