Peter Rhodes on weddings, memories and plenty of give and take
A stroll down memory lane. I entered journalism in 1969 as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper and was soon assigned to cover golden weddings. There were a lot of them in those days, mainly because 50 years earlier, in 1919, the lads had come home from the First World War and married their sweethearts.
I became a bit of an expert on golden weddings. I prided myself on writing the answer to the Big Question in my notebook (“Plenty of give and take”) before even asking the Big Question (“So what is the secret of a long and happy marriage?”).
Those lovely old couples offered the Press a sherry or two, brought out their photo albums, trawled through their memories, smiled sweetly for the camera, and spoke proudly of the achievements of their children and grandchildren. The Nikon clicked and another tale of spending half a century together, through thick and thin, Depression and Blitz, and always with plenty of give and take, was recorded for posterity.
Sometimes you sensed that these had not been 50 years of pure bliss. About 700,000 young Britons were killed in what they called the Great War. For some heartbroken girls the choice was between becoming what people called an old maid (what a horrible, unkind term that was) or accepting virtually any offer of marriage. But by and large the golden wedding couples I met in 1969 were cheerful enough and one or two were openly romantic.
I remember one 70-something husband who, slightly amending the words of the old music-hall song, serenaded me, the photographer and his blushing wife with: “We've been together now for 50 years /An' it don't seem a day too much.”
Anyway, long story short. In the 1960s I was reporting golden weddings. The years whizz by and tomorrow, Mrs Rhodes and I celebrate our own. We've been together now for 50 years, since Saturday, July 20, 1974.
Plenty of give and take, since you ask. And it don't seem a day too much.
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