All about goodnight kiss as wartime wedding couple mark 70th wedding anniversary
A goodnight kiss before bed is the secret to 70 years of happy marriage, according to a couple celebrating their platinum anniversary.
Gerald and Joan Sedgwick were introduced to each other as teenagers by mutual friends and their first day out together was at Wolverhampton Flower Show.
They courted for four years, regularly spending time together at a youth club at St Barnabas Church, Heath Town, before marrying at Holy Trinity Church on December 12, 1942.
Their marriage was hard to organise however as Mr Sedgwick, now aged 89, was then serving in the Fleet Air Arm of the British Royal Navy, working as an air mechanic.
He did however manage to get seven days leave and the couple, who now live in Codsall, married on the fifth day of that week before he had to return to duty.
He was eventually discharged in May 1946 and returned to work as a commercial manager at the Wolverhampton Steel & Iron Company, which would later become the British Steel Corporation. They have six grandchildren.
Joan, aged 91, a former shorthand typist for Guy Motors before she gave it up to look after their three children together, added: "We've been very happy."
Mr Sedgwick said: "When we first met, something just clicked and we went on from there."
"Neither of us is very domineering which has always helped and whatever has gone on in the day we never go to bed without a goodnight kiss," he said.
