2:10pm Sunday 22nd February 2009
By Richard Vernalls
FEW can claim the milestone of having been married 70 years – but for a Worcester couple the secret is a little give and take.
Sitting together on their sofa, Ralph Partridge, aged 89, and wife Kate, 87, never dreamed they would one day be looking back at seven decades of happy marriage together when they tied the knot on February 23, 1939.
The couple, of Avon Road, Warndon, first met walking along the river in Worcester one Sunday afternoon, and often used to get together at the Mirror Bar ice cream parlour. Mrs Partridge was 17 and Mr Partridge 18.
Mr Partridge, who is looking forward to marking his 90th birthday on Sunday, March 1, said: “I really didn’t know we’d be together this long – I didn’t think about it, really.”
Working as a fitting engineer at Worcester firm Archdales, he saved for weeks to buy an engagement ring for his sweetheart, who was then working part-time at St George’s Laundry, St George’s Lane, Barbourne.
“I didn’t get down on one knee or anything like that,” he said.
The Second World War interrupted domestic life when Mr Partridge, as a member of the Territorial Army, received his call-up.
The couple were married at Worcester Register Office – which was then on the High Street – and the following day Mr Partridge joined the forces.
He served mainly in the British Eighth Army at a repair depot in Alexandria, Egypt, refitting light vehicles, but also served in Benghazi and later Palestine.
Mrs Partridge had her hands full soldering ammunition boxes in Jackfield, Ironbridge, and bringing up their son Brian.
After the war, the couple had a daughter, Margaret, and later welcomed four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren to the family.
Mr Partridge went on to join the maintenance team at Rover Longbridge, while his wife worked part-time at Marks and Spencer.
In the 1970s she received an award and an all-expenses paid trip to London for 25 years’ serving the retailer.
Today the couple are celebrating their platinum wedding.
“It’s give and take – simple,” said Mr Partridge His wife said: “We’ve never really had a row.”
The family are set to enjoy an anniversary meal at the Wagon Wheel Pub, Grimley.
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