70 years of happy marriage is sealed with a kiss
A COUPLE celebrating their platinum wedding date in the same year as the Queen and Prince Philip have revealed the secret to their happy marriage – kissing.
June and Geoff Bancroft, marked 70 years together in March, having wed in 1947.
The pair, who reminisced to mark the London Mint Office’s release of a platinum anniversary coin, received a congratulatory card from the Queen to mark their 70th milestone.
Mr Bancroft, 88, said his wife was “his queen” and they were “still kissing”.
He described his wedding day as “the happiest day of his life” and said they were honoured to be sharing their anniversary year with the monarch.
He added: “After my wife, she’s the best.”
Mrs Bancroft said there was still romance in their relationship – seven decades on.
Traditional
She said: “We just love one another. We knew each other when we were 12 and met again at 15. From there on we’ve just never been apart.
“We just love being with one another all the time. We still have a few arguments like everybody, but we still cuddle and kiss.”
The couple, from Moulton, Cheshire, have five children, 15 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren and celebrated their big day with a family party.
Mr Bancroft, a one-time country and western singer, who performed under the stage name Hank Bean in pubs in Manchester and Cheshire, had met his wife because his grandparents lived in her home village.
They married at a register office in Altrincham, Cheshire, on March 22, 1947, eight months before the royal wedding.
The groom wore a demob suit which had been given to his brother and best man John when he left the RAF.
And Mrs Bancroft, 87, did not have The Queen and Prince Philip in 1947 a traditional wedding dress. “You didn’t in those days,” she said. “I just had a nice coat, a dress and a hat and a flower – that was it.
“It was all rationing. coupons for clothes.
“My mum did the wedding party at her house, and my family came, aunties, grandmas
“My mum made the wedding cake. There wasn’t the money. You couldn’t get stuff then.”
As newlyweds, the couple lived with Mrs Bancroft’s parents for the first two years of their marriage, before getting a council house and building their own home in Manchester.
They set up their own successful businesses including a garage, a sewing factory and a launderette, with Mrs Bancroft working alongside her husband.
Princess Elizabeth, 21, married the Duke of Edinburgh on November 20, 1947, in front of 2,000 guests in Westminster Abbey.
The Princess received 200 extra clothing coupons from the Government towards her wedding trousseau as was the custom for brides. It was all