Kentish Express Ashford & District
Teaming up for 70 years
Eric and Olive Busby say there’s no unique secret to their remarkable 70 years of marriage - just teamwork.
And that’s something they know all about having run a 28-acre smallholding together near Chilham for more than 30 years.
Like many young couples of their time, they met at a dance in the village hall, although Olive says Eric’s proposal wasn’t the most romantic.
“I remember he just said something like ‘when are we going to get married then?”, she recalled.
Eric even came close to missing the big day at Chilham church, with his dad having to wake him in the morning to remind him he was getting married.
“I had a good excuse though,” he said. “We didn’t have stag nights back then. I was actually working and had been up to the market in London and got back very late.”
Eric, now 90, left Chilham primary school aged just 13 to work for farmer Leonard Ashenden.
Meanwhile, Olive went to the Sydney Cooper School of Art in Canterbury and studied dress-making and design.
But they both ended up running Phyllis Farm in Old Wives
Lees, where they largely grew fruit.
“It was a hard life but we were a good team,” said 89-year-old Olive.
“I guess it was quite a healthy one, too, that’s helped keep us going.”
Eric was also a firefighter based at Chilham for 31 years. He was awarded a British Empire Medal in 1990 for his service and charitable work.
The couple have two daughters and a son, two grandchildren - one also a firefighter - and two great grandchildren.
The couple retired to Sholden near Deal, where they had planned a big celebration for their platinum anniversary yesterday (Wednesday).
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to scrap that because of Covid,” said Olive.“It’s disappointing, but we’ll just have small groups of family and friends visit us throughout the day instead.”