70 years and pair still going strong

John and Joan Welsh met at kindergarten in August, and were married in September.

Or at least, that is the story John likes to tell.

Yesterday, the Invercargill couple celebrated their 70th year of marriage with a trip to Stirling Point in Bluff, along with many of their five children,15 grandchildren, and 30 greatgrandchildren.

The couple met in August 1942, when John was 18 and Joan was 16, at a dance held at a kindergarten on Mitchell St.

‘‘John used to tell everyone we met at kindergarten, of course we were just there for the dance.’’

John says he can still remember that evening clearly.

‘‘I’d been back working at night finishing off a few jobs, and had to get changed very quickly for the dance, because I was in my dirty work clothes.

‘‘Luckily I knew the girl who used to stay with Joan, and [Joan and I] clicked just like that.’’

Joan says the meeting was a happy accident.

‘‘John went with the girl I had gone to the dance with. So I was with my partner, whoever he was, and we all had supper together at the dance at about 10pm.’’

‘‘We liked one another right from the start.’’

The couple waited five years before tying the knot, with John spending the last years of World War II working as a mechanic at the military camp in Burnham.

‘‘I tell people we met in August and married in September, but I say don’t worry there was five years in between.’’

‘‘Yes he delights in telling everybody that’’, Joan says.

‘‘It’s very hard these days, we were courting one another for a long time before we got married.’’

‘‘I was only 16 when I met John, and I thought mum and dad wouldn’t agree to that when he was 19 or something, it just wasn’t done.’’

Joan says the couple had been ‘‘very lucky’’ to make it together so long.

‘‘We liked each other right from the start, and we’ve managed to carry it through. We’ve also worked at it, there’s no point holding grudges that’s for sure.’’ More dances wouldn’t hurt either. ‘‘We went to a lot of dances, which they don’t do now – it’s a great way of meeting people.’’