A COUPLE who spent their entire working lives running a New Forest drapery business have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Keith and Pat Davis, who recently moved to Colten Care’s Brook View home in West Moors, were synonymous with the Cox and Hicks shop in Market Place, Ringwood, which traded for nearly 200 years until the late 1980s.

Keith’s family involvement began when his grandfather Jesse Davis was taken on as an apprentice in about 1900.

As a young boy in the 1930s Keith remembers weeping the pavement outside for his dad every morning. He was already working full-time in the business when he met Pat.

The pair married in spring 1955, timing the wedding for a Thursday afternoon as that was the traditional half-day for retailers. Keith finished his morning shift and travelled to Southampton, where Pat’s family lived, to tie the knot.

Over the following decades, the couple supported Keith’s parents to help manage the shop.

Together the team maintained a loyal clientele for clothes, fabrics and sewing materials, retaining several members of staff for many years.

Team members at Brook View, where Keith and Pat enjoy their own large bedroom suite and lounge, helped the couple celebrate 60 years together with a cake, sing-song and card from the Queen.

Colten Care Activities Organiser Monique Brady said: “Keith and Pat are a lovely couple who have settled in well and been welcomed by everyone. They come to lots of our activities including minibus trips and events at the home. They are very popular at Brook View.”

Asked for the secret of a happy marriage, Pat said: “Don’t go to bed on an argument”.

Keith added: “We haven’t had many arguments. We each chose the right partner and we’ve had a very happy time.”

Among the guests at the celebration were the couple’s son Peter, two bridesmaids from their wedding, and friends and former staff from the shop days.

Keith said: “We were always very fortunate with our staff who we still see as part of the family. The business came to a natural end when I retired. I remember the last day. The shelves were empty as we had run down the stock. I locked the door for the last time and took the keys over to the solicitors. It was sad. The people of Ringwood were always very kind. We knew everyone’s names.”

The two-storey building containing the shop was built in the early 19th century and gained a grade II listing from English Heritage in 1987. After Keith shut the business, the property reverted to three separate shop units. Today they are occupied by an estate agent, kitchen designer and hairdressers.

www.BrookViewCare.co.uk