Golden Wedding: Judy and Doug Routledge (From Surrey Comet)

Golden Wedding: Judy and Doug Routledge

2:20pm Friday 13th April 2007

• Print
• Email
• Share

There are three simple ingredients to a happy marriage: love, patience and understanding. At least, this is what Putney residents Judy and Doug Routledge say has kept them together for 50 years, writes Rosa Silverman.

The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on Saturday, March 31, after half a century of marital bliss in the borough.

They tied the knot in 1957 at Wandsworth Town Hall and in 1966 moved to Lacy Road, Putney, where they still live.

Close family and friends attended the Telegraph Inn, Putney, for a special lunch to mark the occasion.

Mr Routledge, 86, and Mrs Routledge, 78, arrived in style in a 1949 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith.

Mrs Routledge's father was unwell on her wedding day and unable to drive her to the town hall, so she had to drive herself in a Hillman Minx.

On Saturday she had a belated wedding drive in a car of the time.

The couple were presented with a framed copy of their original wedding certificate and pictures of the 1957 wedding, with the Latin phrase "Crescit eundo" (as it goes, it grows).

Both admitted they could not believe it had actually been 50 years since they married.

The couple met through the theatre club they both joined after World War II. They were firm friends for some time before their romance developed.

Mr Routledge was an RAF radio engineer and then worked for 30 years as a BBC cameraman.

His wife was a nurse, a medical secretary to the Queen's physician and a practice manager at various GP surgeries, including Brocklebank Health Centre in Garratt Lane.

Their four sons and six grandchildren were present at the celebration.

• Print
• Email
• Share