A sense of humour is secret of wedded bliss
YOUNG lovers who had to wait until World War Two finished before they could be wed have celebrated 70 years of marriage.
Roy and Anne Rogers, 94 and 91, of Bramhall, marked the occasion their platinum wedding anniversary - with a family party.
Invited to the event on Sunday, which was two days after the anniversary, were their three sons, seven grandchildren and nine greatgrandchildren. The couple married at St Clare’s Friary, in Blackley, more than five years after meeting at a dance.
Roy proposed while on leave from his role as a radio operator for the RAF during the war and they then waited for the conflict to end before organising their big day.
And it was worth the wait as seven decades later they are still together.
Son Barry Rogers, 67, said: “Growing up our home was a little paradise, they were happy days with no bad memories.
“I think reaching 70 years is absolutely brilliant, I’ve read the record for a couple is 77 years so they are not far short of that. We are very proud of them.
“It is a real achievement in this day and age when people give up too easily. Marriages are pretty strong in this family but I would hold my mum and dad up as an example to us all.”
After marrying the couple first lived with Anne’s grandmother because of a post war housing shortage.
They also lived near Heaton Park and in Blackpool before settling at Staveton Close, in Bramhall.
After leaving the RAF, which included postings in Canada and Burma, Roy worked in the film industry delivering movies to cinemas.
He would often get a lot of leg pulling as he shared his name with a popular on-screen cowboy of the era.
Anne worked as a tobacco leaf stripper in a cigarette factory and a dinner lady.
The couple continued to dance together and upon retirement were regular caravaners.
The celebrations took place at the Fiveways pub in Hazel Grove, near where Barry and his wife Catherine live.
Catherine, 63, said: “I asked Anne what the secret to a long and happy marriage was and she said a sense of humour.”