Golden couples celebrate 50 years of marriage (From York Press)

Golden couples celebrate 50 years of marriage

7:18am Saturday 9th March 2013 in News By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

A NIGHT on the town was the first step in a romance which would lead to 50 years of happy marriage for one York couple, writes Richard Catton.

Susan and Peter Grosvenor, from Woodthorpe, will today celebrate their golden wedding after meeting at a dance when Mrs Grosvenor, now 70, was a teenager and her future husband had just left the army.

She said: “We met at the De Grey Rooms at a dance. I was 16 and he was 20 and had just finished National Service and we were both out on the town. We met again the next night at The Rialto and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Mr Grosvenor, 74, began work as an upholsterer before his “love of the road” saw him head out on a career as a long distance lorry driver.

The pair were married at St Stephen’s Church in Acomb 50 years ago today and went on to honeymoon in London where Mrs Grosvenor remembers they were immediately given a parking ticket by a traffic warden from Yorkshire.

They intend to celebrate 50 years of marriage with a trip to Devon at a later date, including a visit to the famous Grosvenor Hotel, which bares their name and was featured in the hit reality show The Hotel.
 

A COUPLE celebrating their golden wedding have asked friends for donations to help others instead of presents, writes Niamh Hamill.

Alan Ventress, who was originally from Harome and Audrey, from Alne, met at a dance in Terrington in 1959 and went on to marry in Strensall on March 9, 1963.

They are hosting an open house with afternoon tea for 70 invited guests to mark the occasion and have asked for donations St Saviour’s Church, in Harome, and to a charity they support in Africa.

The Nawton couple have twin daughters, Caroline Collier and Alison Souter, now 48, and five grandchildren, including another set of twins Mrs Ventress said: “It was the happiest day of our lives when the doctor told us we would be expecting twins.”

Mrs Ventress ran her own childminding service for 15 years.

Mr Ventress, 73, used to work for the family land drainage company until his brother and father passed away, and now owns a gardening business, which he is still involved with.

Mrs Ventress says the secret to a happy marriage is “always being able to make each other laugh”.

Alan and Audrey Ventress met at a dance in 1959, and married in Strensall on March 9, 1963