Golden day for Rick and Anne (From Salisbury Journal)

Golden day for Rick and Anne

7:24am Wednesday 10th October 2012 in News

A DURRINGTON couple who met as teenagers celebrated their golden anniversary on Saturday with a family meal at the Wheatsheaf Inn, Lower Woodford.

Anne and Rick Male, from Durrington, met at Amesbury Recreation Ground in 1959, when Anne was 16 and her future husband 18.

Three years later the pair married at St George’s Church, West Harnham.

“When we got married people said we’d never last,” said Mrs Male. “I’m the loud one and Rick’s the quiet one.”

“Our wedding day was absolutely gorgeous and we had so many photographs – I’ll never forget it.

“On the day I first saw Rick, I thought ‘well, he’s nice’. He was and still is gorgeous. What else could a girl want?”

Mrs Male, 68, worked as a childminder and for Wiltshire Council before starting taxi company Alpha Cabs, from which she retired last year.

And her husband, now 70, started off as a dairyman before getting his own ready mix lorry and has continued the same occupation for about 50 years.

The couple have lived in Durrington for 47 years and have two daughters, Wendy and Julie, as well as grandchildren Jason, Kerry and Nathan and a great grandson.

Mrs Male said: “We’ve a lovely home and an amazing family. He still rings me twice a day to see if I’m OK. “We never argue and I’ve never seen Rick lose his temper. It’s been a really happy marriage.”