LAUGHING together is the secret of a long marriage for Jean and Johnny Symons who celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary on Thursday.
The couple were just teenagers when they first met.
Jean, now aged 80, was walking along Church Green when she bumped into Johnny and his friends at the corner of Alcester Street.
She said: “It was a Sunday evening and they were walking past and said ‘good evening’ and before they carried on Johnny turned to me and said ‘can I see you tomorrow night?’ and I said ‘okay then’.”
The path to true love wasn’t smooth though; Johnny went off to do his national service in the RAF at the age of 18 and the couple briefly fell out before getting together again.
“She said she would never marry me until I could learn to dance, so I had some lessons,” said Johnny, now aged 84.
Jean has always lived in Redditch while Johnny hails from North Wales before his family moved to Astwood Bank.
He spent his career in engineering while Jean worked in local schools while bringing up the family – two children, Adrian and Michelle.
The happy couple now have three grandchildren and two great grandchildren and they all celebrated the big day at the couple’s home in Batchley.
They have happy memories of old Redditch, with its three cinemas and Palace Theatre, but acknowledge the benefits of the Kingfisher Shopping Centre too.
And what brought them together in the first instance is the glue that has held them close ever since: “He has a lovely cheeky manner and is always laughing,” said Jean. “Laugh together, that’s the secret of a good marriage.”
