GREAT-grandparents Norman and Edna Fort are celebrating their diamond wedding today. The couple met in 1950 in Stockton-on-Forest, when Edna was working in the Land Army and Norman was farming.

They married the following year in Edna’s home town of Stockton-on-Tees.

They have lived in York all their married life, and have five children, Pamela, Kevin, Sandra, Christine and Peter, ten grand children and six great-grandchildren.

“It is a very special day for us. We are having a family party,” said Edna, 78, who lives in the Stockton Lane area of York. “We have had a very busy life.”

Norman, now 80, worked in farming for 25 years before becoming a lorry driver for ten years after which the couple worked together with their own cleaning operation.

“We really enjoyed it and kept it going,” said Edna, who also did cleaning work at the Mount School in York.

On the secrets of their long marriage, she said: “We both worked together and enjoyed our holidays. We have a very big family and they live near us.”


York Press: Frank and Millicent Ramsay THIS couple from North Yorkshire are looking forward to a weekend of celebration as they make 70 years of marriage.

Frank and Millicent Ramsay, of Brayton, near Selby, met and were married shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. They have two sons, a daughter who has died, ten grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Mr Ramsay, 89, said: “Millie lived in Hessle and I lived in Hull and when we got married there was a war on and I joined the air force.”

He joked: “We were married when we were 18 and that was for one reason – if I went in the forces I could get a married person’s allowance.”

A butcher by trade, Mr Ramsay served as a cook during the war, a role which took him to countries such as Nigeria, Belgium, France and India. He said: “I was demobbed from Burma and we moved to a small house in Anlaby. I went back to working as butcher.”

The couple eventually retired to Bridlington before moving to Brayton two months ago to be nearer their grandchildren. They have invited 40 friends and family to their home for a celebration at the weekend.