Bexhill couple's 60 years of wedded bliss

Yvonne Broughton and her husband Don, who live in Little Common, tied the knot on September 21, 1957.

The couple and their family held a special luncheon at the Cooden Beach Hotel on September 23 to mark the milestone anniversary.

They also received a card from the Queen, congratulating them on 60 years of wedded bliss.

Don and Yvonne met in Southgate, north London in 1954 when Yvonne was 18 and he was 20 at a dancing club on a night out.

Don said that on that night upon spotting Yvonne from across the room he said to his friends he would be taking her home.

Three years later they married at St Paul’s Church on Church Hill in north London and lived in Winchmore Hill.

Don worked for the Post Office until he retired at the age of 57.

Yvonne worked as a cook at a school for a few years but moved on to work for a solicitors’ firm until she retired.

In 1960 their first child Raymond was born and subsequently they had David in 1962 and Robert in 1967.

Don and Yvonne moved to Stevenage, Hertfordshire in the early 1990s and both worked part-time in Sainsbury’s to keep active.

They regularly attended dancing clubs, particularly ballroom and square dancing and were club members, attending events and going on holidays with the clubs.

Yvonne’s father, Walter Durant, lived in Oakwood, north London with his wife Julie until her death in 1991.

In the mid-1990s Walter moved to Little Common in the same bungalow that Don and Yvonne live in today.

Walter was a talented craftsman and he worked as a cabinet maker, completing his apprenticeship in 1929.

He was also a steward aboard the P&O passenger liner SS Strathnaver, one of five sister ships, a car maker at Fords with the British Standards Institute as a quality inspector.

During the Second World War, Walter was involved in developments with the armaments firm, Vickers-Armstrong.

These included production of an armoured car and a magnetic ring fitted to low-flying Wellington bombers that could be used to explode sea mines. He also served in the Home Guard.

He also worked as a tailor for the Queen’s couturier, Norman Hartnell for 20 years and met him on many occasions.

Following Walter’s death in June 2013 at the age of 104, Don and Yvonne decided to sell their home in Stevenage and move into Walter’s bungalow where they have lived since 2014.