One would hazard a guess that had anybody born in the 1930s been told they would live to see in the new millennium, they would probably consider it a pretty good run.
At least, you would think they’d have considered it better than what most of their parents could have hoped for, given those born in the early 1900s and 1910s were expected to live only until their late 50s.
But how might a young man or woman who had been born in the 1930s have reacted, had they been told they would live into their 80s or 90s?
And how might they have greeted the prophecy that they would also celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary?
The chances are, they would not have believed it – but one Colchester couple has shown how a happy marriage might just be able to help you enjoy a long life too.
Next Tuesday, Keith and Catherine Ford will celebrate 70 years of marriage, having taken their wedding vows at North Hill’s register office in 1953, a year when Sir Winston Churchill was still at Number 10.
Aged 92 and 87 respectively, Mr and Mrs Ford raised four children in their family home in Sheering Walk, Monkwick, Colchester, and now have ten grandchildren and 14 grandchildren.
The two still live independetly, currently in their Old Heath bungalow which they share with their shih tzu, Millie.
Diane Brotherton, Mr and Mrs Ford’s second oldest daughter, asked her parents straight-up what had kept them together so long.
Her father’s answer, simply, was “because I love her".
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Mrs Brotherton said: “They met in a place in the High Street which was then known as the Corn Exchange, and got married on the top of North Hill, which is where the register office was then.
“They had probably been going out for a couple of years, and they were both born and bred in Colchester – they never moved away.”
Over the years, Mr Ford was a maintenance fitter whilst Mrs Ford worked at Marriages Mill when she first left school, as well as taking up other jobs.
The two kept busy, keeping up plenty of interests whilst raising a family: Mr Ford pursued his love of country music and old cars, whilst Mrs Ford enjoyed – indeed, still does enjoy – baking and shopping.
“She’s brilliant – nobody makes pastries like my mum,” Mrs Brotherton said proudly.
“They may be 87 and 92 but they are still young at heart.”
When it comes to tech, Mr Ford doesn’t quite keep up with his wife, who uses a mobile phone – particularly handy when Mrs Brotherton’s parking ticket is running out at the same time as her mum browses the shop windows.
“Neither of them are on the internet, but we bought my mum the simplest mobile phone, so if we go into town, she will know how to ring me.
“I don’t think my dad would be as good.”
If there’s one thing the two argue over, it’s their mobility scooter, which Mr and Mrs Ford share between them.
“They sometimes argue over that,” Mrs Brotherton said, laughing.
“I thought, why don’t they just have one each and they can race each other up the road?”
No such stand-offs will get in the way at the weekend, however, when members of the family young and old will gather to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary – and yes, Mrs Ford will be making her famed pastries.
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