A WOKINGHAM couple managed to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary last week, even if their original plans had changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The June 4 wedding – Whitsun Saturday 1960 – of John and Jenny Gilbert was held amid a heatwave.
Mrs Gilbert said: “It was a scorcher. The newly tarmacked drive to the village church in Bournemouth started to melt and the vicar ran out and asked all the ladies in their stilettos to move on to the grass verges, and please not to throw confetti as it would stick.
“We were the last marriage that he held as he then retired and with his wife departed to New Zealand to be with their son.”
After six years in Dorset, the couple moved to Wokingham as Mr Gilbert worked as an air traffic controller at West Drayton.
The couple said that they quickly settled into their new home, with Mrs Gilbert helping the 1st Wokingham Brownies and joining the Wokingham Horticultural Association, a membership that continues to this day.
They also support various charities, by being the secretary for the local NSPCC Committee for many years and helping with WADE (then called Little Court) and delivering the Meals on Wheels.
“It was an active and friendly town and still remains the same,” Mrs Gilbert said.
Their original plans for a celebration to remember have been put on hold, but their daughter, who lives in Wallingford, and their son, who works in Winnersh, came for outdoor afternoon tea on Saturday.
Mrs Gilbert said: “Plans had to alter as the weather changed to damp and windy. Never mind, after 60 years we felt we could deal with anything.”
