A Welwyn Garden City couple who met at the local tennis club were married 70 years ago last month.
June Nicholls walked down the aisle on July 22, 1950 at St Marys’ Church in Welwyn Garden City to meet her husband Dick and they are now still together for their platinum anniversary.
According to their daughter Pauline Walker, who lives in Wiltshire, her father, the grooms’ brother Raymond was best man, and June’s friend – also named June – was bridesmaid on their special day.
For their honeymoon, Pauline said: “They travelled to Gatwick airport, which consisted of a hut then, to fly to Guernsey for their honeymoon. They flew on a DC3, with a leaky back door. During the flight, the pilot came from the cockpit to tell them he would get it fixed before the return journey.”
On return, the couple first lived in Digswell for about six months and then came back to Welwyn Garden City where they still live to this day.
“During their married life, they have visited many countries on holiday and enjoyed multiple activities with their friends.
READ MORE: Cheap booze puts nail in coffin of Welwyn Garden City Winemakers Guild“These have included being involved in the local wine making guild, dressing up for the Old Time Musical Hall and attending other events at The Barn Theatre. They also enjoyed ballroom dancing lessons.”
The Welwyn Garden City Winemaking Guild no longer exists and shut its doors in October 2019, as many of its members, who were older, ceased making their own wine.
Pauline’s father started his working career at De Havilland’s in Hatfield – which has since closed – and remained there for all of his working life.
She said: “He saw many changes during this period, including the company’s transition to becoming a member of Hawker Siddeley in the 1960’s, and later merging into BAE Systems plc.”
June had a number of jobs, including making false eyelashes at home for Eylure, when her children were small. She also worked for many years at Roche Products until her retirement in 1988. Pauline said: “As they are self-shielding and with social distancing still in place, it’s not possible to have a big family get together.
“However, they were visited by Pauline, Richard, Stef as well as Janet and Les on the day, with social distancing strictly observed. Other family members were able to ‘meet up’ using an array of video chatting methods.”
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