Bus trip just the ticket for platinum pair
A chance meeting on the number 11 bus was just the ticket to a lifetime of love for one couple who have celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary.
Bram Pritchard made a point of sitting next to his future wife Joan as he boarded the bus from West Bromwich to Friar Park in 1940. And love soon blossomed between the pair, who live in Walsall.
Mrs Pritchard said: "I was sitting on the bus coming back from night school and my now-husband made a point of coming and sitting by me each night. We got off the bus together and never really parted."
The pair, who will not reveal their ages, wed at Wednesbury Registry Office on November 7, 1942.
A year later, daughter Pauline came along, followed nine years later by son Anthony after Mr Pritchard, who worked at the General Electric Company in Witton, returned from service in the Navy.
For 18 years, Mr and Mrs Pritchard, who live on the Yew Tree Estate, ran sequence dance classes at West Bromwich baths.
"We've made so many wonderful friends through dancing," said Mrs Pritchard, who worked at British Typewriters in West Bromwich.
The couple have five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Mrs Pritchard. said: "The secret to a long marriage is to be kind to one another and to listen,"
