Diamond of a year for couple
COLOURFUL MARRIAGE HAS SEEN PAIR LIVE IN A TENT IN AFRICA BEFORE MOVING HOME
A couple have 60 reasons to celebrate as they reach a milestone diamond wedding anniversary.
On Tuesday, Jean, 85, and Robin Auld, 90, will raise a glass to 60 years of marriage.
The couple, who now live in Harton Village, spent more than 40 years living in Sunderland after getting married on June 13, 1957, in St Michael’s Church, in South Shields.
They began courting after a mutual friend introduced them and they’ve never looked back since.
Jean, whose family used to run a successful local business called Riddle Butchers, said: “We met at a friend’s house, she was a mutual friend of ours. She was trying to fix us up and it worked.”
Soon after marrying, the couple moved to Nyasaland, in Africa, which later became Milawi, due to Robin’s job as a surveyor with the British Government.
Jean said: “We married on the Thursday and Robin left on the Monday for Africa.
“I followed a couple of months later. We lived in a wimple tent on a mountain, it was very beautiful, but freezing cold.”
The couple moved back to England to raise their three children, Sally, 57, Ashley, 54 and Clare, 51, and Robin went on to become deputy headteacher at Bede School in Sunderland.
He is also well-known in the area for his time as president of Ashbrooke Sports Club and his involvement with Durham County rugby.
Jean, meanwhile, worked in Green’s Chemist, in Chester Road, for many years and is a member of Millie’s Tappers, who practice at Muriel Harrison School of Dance.
Jean and Robin are also proud grandparents to seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.