Wedded bliss? You need some humour (From Ledbury Reporter)
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Wedded bliss? You need some humour
12:00pm Friday 1st March 2013 in News By Gary Bills-Geddes
DIAMOND COUPLE: Allan and Joan Minton mark 70 years of marriage. 0913256201
A COUPLE who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this week had met only twice before their marriage day, during the Second-World-War.
Courtship consisted of those precious meetings and an exchange of letters for Allan and Joan Minton, of Hazle Close, Ledbury, because both were actively involved in the war effort.
Mr Minton was an Able Seaman who was to see active service on a minesweeper off the French Coast during the DDay landings.
And he was at sea when he wrote to Joan, who was serving with the WAAF, with a special responsibility for barrage balloons, and suggested they should not get engaged, as planned, but should get married instead.
They were married at the Sacred Heart Church at Wadhurst, Sussex, on February 24, 1943.
Mrs Minton, now aged 91, said: “I got my engagement ring 10 years ago, on holiday in Bangkok!”
The Mintons celebrated their Platinum Wedding on Sunday with a party for 30 friends and family members at the Abbey Hotel in Malvern.
A congratulatory telegram from the Queen arrived on the big day itself, to make theoccasionextraspecial.
After the war, Mrs and Mrs Minton settled down to family life in Manchester, where Mr Minton, now 89, became a sales representative for Burtons Biscuits.
Mrs Minton had set her heart on the Ledbury area, since serving as a Land Army girlin Bosbury before she joinedtheWAAF.
Promotion to regional manager finally brought the couple to the Ledbury area, where the family settled in 1968.
Afterwards, Mr Minton started up his own business, supplying shops and other businesses with cakes and delicacies.
Mrs Minton qualified as a nurse and worked for 20 years with social services in the Malvern area. The couple have three children, Christopher, Angela and Ginny, 11 grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren. When asked what was the secret of a long and happy marriage, Mrs Minton said: “A sense of humour!"
