They did their courting through the dark days of World War II.
But now a Marsden couple are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.
Jack Hawkins, 95, and his 91-year-old wife Edith still live in the cottage in Marsden that they bought back in 1967.
In fact they have always lived in the village since they tied the knot on a very foggy Saturday, December 22, 1945.
They first lived with Edith’s parents for a short time after their marriage and then moved into a small cottage off Chain Road before it was condemned.
The couple met at Linthwaite while with friends and married at St Bartholomew’s Church.
Mr Hawkins was brought up in Scar Lane, Newsome , and spent much of his life working at David Brown Gears in Lockwood, where he was a machine setter.
His wife was brought up in Marsden and worked as a weaver at the John Edward Crowther company’s Bank Bottom Mills.
The couple had a son John, who died of a heart attack aged just 17, and two other sons, Frank and Colin.
They have four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Mr Hawkins has been a keen radio amateur since 1952 and has friends across the world. His wife enjoys knitting and crochet work.
Mr Hawkins said: “There’s been no secret to our marriage; it’s a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other and getting on with things”.
DECEMBER 1945 FACTFILE
- King George VI was on the throne when the couple married and Clement Attlee was the Prime Minister
- Marsden was a thriving textile centre, with at least 10 mills in operation
- They included Bank Bottom Mills which employed 1,900 people on 680 looms
- An average wage for a worker in 1945 was the equivalent of £2 a week
- The Hawkinses could enjoy the latest films in Marsden’s Electric Cinema
- One of the hit films was The Seventh Veil, starring Huddersfield’s own James Mason
