CONGRATULATIONS!

This is a photo of Daphne & Fred with a personal card from the Queen congratulating them on 60 years of marriage. WOW! 60 years by any standard is amazing but even more so in this day & age when divorce is so common. Huge congratulations to you both!

Daphne & Fred were our neighbours when we lived in Ardeley, a tiny, tiny village a few miles outside Stevenage, when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Every day after school my sister Helen & I would go to their house until my parents got home from work. We loved going there! We used to come in & have juice & biscuits while we watched Sons & Daughters on ITV. I'm not sure if we watched it because Daphne wanted to watch it or if there was nothing else on but we liked it anyway!

While we were at Daphne & Fred's we used to look out for the various birds that they used to feed. There were several regulars to their kitchen window but I can only remember Waggy the Wagtail. She used to come most days & we would feed her breadcrumbs. I also used to talk over the garden fence to a boy from my class called Andrew Grey when he was visiting his Grandma who lived next door to Daphne & Fred. I never quite understood why we both stayed either side of the fence but we did! Andrew & I used to be the ones who looked after the school fish in the holidays as we lived close enough to the school to pop in.

Another memory from those days was watching Fred chop the wood for the stove & helping Daphne to put wood into the stove so she could cook their tea. We were both fascinated by that old cooker! Sometimes Daphne would make us a special treat of Angel Delight- something we both adored but never ever had at home. It was great fun & Helen & I have fond memories of those times. :O)

Hope you are all well. Have a great day! ;O)