Diamond couple celebrate 60 years

And Sheila and Hubert Hodgkins ought to know, as today marks the couple’s diamond wedding anniversary.

The couple, who live in Willington, were together for four years before they tied the knot in 1951, including a two-year engagement.

They will celebrate the landmark on Saturday with a party for family and friends.

Sheila said: “I have been very, very lucky, I’ve got a wonderful husband.

“He has always been there for me and I have always been there for him. If there has ever been something wrong, we talk and we put things right.

“Being married you have got to be friends and that is what we are.”

The couple first met at the cinema in Newport Pagnell, the town where Sheila grew up.

Over the years Sheila worked at a school in Newport and as a shop assistant at Dudney and Johnson general store in Bedford, while Hubert worked as a farm worker and as a paint sprayer of cars.

After living in Willington the couple moved to Astwood, before moving to Willington three years ago.

They now have three daughters, five grandsons and a granddaughter, plus one great-granddaughter and a great-grandson.

Most of their close family still live close by, but some will visit from Newark and Suffolk at Saturday’s celebration.

Sheila said: “I am nearly 82 and Hubert is 88, but the age difference has never mattered.

“You just live together and help each other.”