Diamond Wedding: Geoffrey and Joan Martin (From Surrey Comet)

Diamond Wedding: Geoffrey and Joan Martin

2:49pm Thursday 15th February 2007 in

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Geoffrey Martin admits he didn't expect he and his wife Joan would one day be celebrating 60 years of marriage when they tied the knot in 1946.

But it seems fortune has looked kindly on the Wallington couple as they marked their diamond wedding anniversary with a party for friends and family at Cheam's Thatched House hotel last month.

Geoffrey first met Joan in 1938 when they were both working as shop assistants at the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society shop in Woolwich.

War then separated the courting couple when Geoffrey was dispatched to the Middle East as an RAF engineer and Joan served in Britain - also for the RAF and one rank above her future husband.

They married on Boxing Day in Joan's native Plumstead, and Geoffrey began an engineering career, first manufacturing lathe chucks and then working for British Road Services.

The couple moved to Wallington in 1976 and have three children - Christine, 58, Terry, 54, and Lesley, 51 - along with six grandchildren.

Their anniversary celebration on January 27 was attended by 70 friends and family members, including guest of honour Wilfred Wright, Joan's 91-year-old brother.

"We thoroughly enjoyed it," Geoffrey, of Carew Road, said. "It's the thing I've been looking forward to for years.

"We've had a happy marriage. It's very give and take, that's what marriage is all about."