A COUPLE who met while serving in the Second World War will celebrate their diamond wedding tomorrow.
Lyn and Hubert Whiteley, of Stocker Head Lane, Slaithwaite, met at an RAF maintenance unit in 1942.
Mrs Whiteley was a telecommunications worker in the RAF, and Mr Whiteley was in an RAF bomber squadron.
He left his home in Slaithwaite and his job at Globe Worsted Mills to join the RAF a week after war started.
Mrs Whiteley had left her home in Liverpool and her job as a professional dancer to join the RAF in 1940.
The couple - pictured now and on their wedding day - were married in South Wales in 1944.
When Mr Whiteley left the Forces he returned to Slaithwaite and to his old job at Globe Worsted. Mrs Whiteley joined him later in Slaithwaite.
Mr Whiteley became a manager at Globe Worsted and stayed with the firm for 51 years until retirement.
The couple have a son, who lives in Slaithwaite, a daughter in Cornwall and a foster daughter in Liverpool. They also have two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr and Mrs Whiteley plan to celebrate their diamond anniversary with two trips.
They are to visit family in Cornwall and take their great-grandchildren to Butlin's resort in Minehead.
Then, in May, they hope to travel with their son to Cannes, in France, to visit the grave of Mr Whiteley's brother.
