The same Christmas card for fifty years…
But Joe is forced into change
A Blackburn man who has given his wife the same Christmas card since they were married has had a change of tack after 50 years.
Joe Rinkus has given wife Betty the same card every year since the couple were married on December 27, 1968.
But now, when the card would have turned 50, Joe has been furnishing his wife with gifts, including a ring, earrings and a new anniversary card to mark the occasion.
Sadly the Christmas card that had been with the couple all those years finally succumbed to the tests of time and fell apart a few months ago and hasn’t been seen since.
Betty said: “It split down the back and I tried to Sellotape it but then I must have accidently thrown it out, I’ve searched the house for it.”
Joe said: “Every year the card sat under the Christmas tree. All the other cards got hung up but that one sat under the tree.”
Although disappointed at the loss of the ‘sentimental’ card, the couple are looking forward to celebrating their wedding anniversary – marked with the new card from Joe.
The couple will celebrate their anniversary by having a meal at the Fairway in Bathgate, where they had their first date, alongside their son Mark, his wife and their three grandchildren.
Joe and Betty met when they worked for British Leyland, Joe as a machine operator and Betty on electrics.
Betty, originally from Blackridge, said: “He took one look at me and fell in love with me and started sending me wee notes.”
Joe said: “We were called ‘the lovers’ in the factory because we were the only ones together.
“We used to meet for lunch and we would sit on tyres and bits of machinery to eat our lunch, we never went to the canteen.”