We’ve gone platinum! 70 YEARS
COUPLE TOAST A REMARKABLE OF MARRIAGE
CHILDHOOD sweethearts are celebrating an astonishing 70 YEARS of wedded bliss.
Reginald, 92, and Edna Wilson, 91, met as teenagers at a dance at Alker Hall in Flixton – and have shared a love of dancing ever since.
Edna was 16 and Reginald 17 when they met and enjoyed dates at places such as The Curzon swimming baths in Urmston, where an artificial floor was placed over the water to create a place to dance.
The couple, who are toasting their platinum wedding anniversary, married at St Michael’s church in Flixton in 1951, with a reception at the Hughenden Hotel in Urmston.
Edna worked at stockbrokers Kerrleather and Hollows in Manchester and says all her colleagues collected their ration coupons to make sure they had enough eggs and flour to bake a wedding cake.
After the big day the couple enjoyed a honeymoon in Port Erin on the Isle of Man and then lived for two years with Edna’s parents before moving into a flat of their own in Flixton.
The great-grandparents, who have lived at Norfolk Gardens in Flixton almost all their married life, went on to have three children – Lynn Reynolds, 66, Caroline Brock, 59, and Deborah Bean, 56.
They have five grandchildren – Hayley, 36, Fraser, 34, Elliott, 29, Oliver, 26 and Rosie, 23 – and one great-grandchild, Lewis, 11.
Reginald, who served in the RAF before becoming a joiner for Robert Carlysles in Stretford, says ‘working together’ is the secret to a happy marriage. Edna said: “Understanding each other and then the love bit comes later.”
Daughter Lynn said: “I still see them holding hands on the settee when they are watching a film together.”
The happy couple were hoping to hear from the Queen on their special day which they were celebrating within their family bubble with an afternoon tea.