War couple mark their 65th

A devoted couple who tied the knot at the height of the Second World War are celebrating 65 years of married bliss.

Ron and Dorothy Bowen from Lower Gornal were the guests of honour at a special meal with their family to mark their blue sapphire wedding. They first met as teenagers when they both lived in Sedgley and were married at St James’s Church on July 3 in 1943.

Mr Bowen was in the Coldstream Guards for seven years before working as a foreman at a construction and engineering firm in Kingswinford while Mrs Bowen worked at the former Royal Ordnance Factory Featherstone.

The couple, aged 88 and 87, who live in Oakland Drive, have a daughter, Jennifer Tromans, 63, as well as two grandchildren, Stuart, 40, and Frances, 37,  and one great-grandaughter, Beth, aged 13.

They enjoy spending time in their garden and say their secret for long and happy marriage is “always being there for each other.” Mrs Tromans, who lives in Kingswinford, said: “They had a lovely day. They had an open house during the day so their friends and neighbours could pop by and then we had a family dinner in the evening.”