Buxton couple celebrate 70th wedding anniversary

A Harpur Hill couple say they are still smiling at each other as they celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
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Thomas and Evelyn Smith met when they were both teenagers and celebrated an impressive seven decades of marriage on October 6, saying they are still very much in love.

Evelyn said: “We have a marvellous marriage and I don’t think either of us would change anything.”

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The duo, who originally hail from Fleetwood near Blackpool, met through Tom’s sister when Evelyn was just 16.

Buxton couple Thomas and Evelyn Smith who are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.Buxton couple Thomas and Evelyn Smith who are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.
Buxton couple Thomas and Evelyn Smith who are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.

“He was seeing someone else then but that fizzled out and he asked me out,” Evelyn added.

And the 89-year-old said said she used to make Tom, now 92, go dancing with her as that was her hobby.

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Tom had been on a training scheme with the army but then got a job at Hillhead Quarry in Buxton.

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Knowing Tom would be moved down to Buxton the couple made the decision to get married.

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They tied the knot at St Peter’s Church in Fleetwood on October 6, 1951.

Evelyn had previously visited a fortune teller who told her she would marry someone from across the water and as the couple were separated by th e Wyre Estuary this turned out to be true.

“There was no grand proposal,” said Evelyn, “We just both agreed this was what we wanted and needed to do.

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“We didn’t get a honeymoon as he was back on a train and back to work in Buxton.”

Evelyn moved to Buxton to be with Tom but the couple had nowhere of their own to call home so stayed with a work friend’s mum until they bought their own home on Harris Road, in Harpur Hill.

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While Tom worked in the quarry, Evelyn, who was a trained confectioner, worked in a bakery making meals for the quarry workers.

The couple now have two children, four grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

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Explaining the secret to their long and happy marriage, Evelyn added: “We make us work every day. We work together and we both give and take and compromise.

“We have made a lot of happy memories and we’re still smiling at each other after 70 years so we must be doing something right!”

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