Childhood pals mark 65 years of marriage

The pair have known each other for more than 80 years – and have been married for 65.

They grew up in neighbouring streets in Bilston and their mothers, Floss Crutchley and Lizzie Tyler, went to the same school and were also best friends. The young Ray and Marjorie climbed trees and fished together, but as teenagers friendship turned to love and, at 18, they started courting.

Marjorie, now 86, says: "It was strange, like meeting someone new. But there was never anyone else for either of us."

The couple, who were married on Easter Saturday 1943, live in Prestwood Road West, Wednesfield.

To celebrate their anniversary, they had lunch at the Park Hall Hotel with son Mike, daughter Jenni, five grandchildren and a great-grandchild. They were also received congratulations from the Queen.

Jenni said: "They are amazingly active and youthful. My mother still goes to weekly fitness classes and dad works regularly in the garden.

"My mother's hobbies include painting and she has her own website of paintings. Being computer enthusiasts, they also have their own website."

Ray, who was brought up in Kempthorne Road, and Marjorie, whose home was in St Chad's Road, went to Fraser Street School, Bilston, where he used to pull her long dark curls.

"He tormented me," she says.

After they married at St Leonard's Church, Bilston, and honeymooned in Blackpool, Ray spent three years with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Palestine.

He later worked at Boulton Paul, in Wolverhampton, as a fitter.

Among the earliest pictures of them together are scenes at Stourport, paddling in the river with their sisters, around 1930, and posing on a wall on a day out.

Marjorie said: "We lived almost opposite each other and were always in each other's houses."