Rustington couple celebrate diamond wedding

Reg and Yvonne Bradley, of Goodwood Close, Rustington, celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary today.

They both come from the Croydon area and were married at Holy Trinity Church in South Norwood on October 6, 1956.

Reg was born in Upper Norwood, near where The Crystal Palace was rebuilt in 1854 following its success at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. He is a devoted Crystal Palace fan, attending football matches from a boy.

Yvonne was born at St Mary’s Maternity Hospital in Croydon.

They met when they were both working at a laundry, Reg being 21 at the time and Yvonne 17.

Reg, 85, joked: “She couldn’t resist me.”

Yvonne, 81, added: “We were courting for four years and married in 1956. We are lucky, our four lovely daughter, Linda, Jane, Sharon and Julie, are always good to us. They have all now moved nearby.”

Reg went on to become a landscape gardener, a job he loved, and Yvonne work in schools as a dinner lady and lunchtime supervisor.

Reg said: “I have been a gardener all my life. I have always loved it. I couldn’t work any other way. I had to be outside and with the earth. My mother was a bit of a gardener and she got me into it.

“In the gardening business, things weren’t all that wonderful in the way of money. It was hard to come by.”

Yvonne added: “He has worked hard all his life. Reg is from a family of 13 children. They were a lovely, hard-working family. I found a good ‘un in Reg.”

The couple retired to Climping Park, near Littlehampton, in 1988 and were there for 11 years before moving to their current home in 1999.

They have 12 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

The family celebrated the anniversary with a meal at the Six Bells in Lyminster on Sunday.

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