2:59pm Thursday 21st June 2007
An Earlsfield couple celebrated 60 years of marriage in the borough last week, when they reached their diamond wedding anniversary.
Roy Moorhouse, 82, and his wife Jean, 80, received a personal card from The Queen and Prince Philip on Thursday, congratulating them on their milestone.
The pair met in 1946 at Clapham Junction when Mr Moorhouse, who was in the Navy, was home on leave.
"I had been to the pictures and he was coming home from the pub," Mrs Moorhouse remembered. "He was all dressed up in uniform. We struck up conversation and made a date and that was it."
Although the couple had an instant rapport, they were soon separated because Mr Moorhouse had to return to the Navy.
"We wrote to each other and sent photos," said Mrs Moorhouse. "The mail came through quite well but we did miss one another."
They were married on June 7, 1947 at St Nicholas in Church Lane, Tooting, in a double wedding, shared with Mr Moorhouse's sister and her husband.
The couple had their first child, John, later that year and Mr Moorhouse began work as a local window cleaner to support his family.
Mr Moorhouse remembers times being tough in the austerity of post-war Britain.
"Money was hard to come by. It was 10p to clean a house's front windows and there was snow and ice for my first three weeks. But we stood by one another."
The couple regard this solidarity as the secret of their marriage. "You meet different troubles. But if you do it together, you feel better for it," said Mr Moorhouse.
The couple now have five children, 17 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren, and their relationship is as strong as it has ever been.
"We love one another, even if we sometimes bite each other's heads off. There is give and take and we trust one another," said Mrs Moorhouse.
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