A CHALKE VALLEY couple who have enjoyed a long partnership after hitting it off at a cricket match are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.

Rozalie (nee Kent) and Colin Everett, who live in Bishopstone, were the first couple to be married at the former Bishopstone Methodist Church on September 2, 1950.

The couple met when Colin was playing a cricket match for the RAF Association against Coombe Bissett, and Rozalie was keeping the score.

This rekindled their friendship as they had met many years before through Longford and Downton Young Farmers.

Rozalie, 91, grew up in a farming family from Coombe Bissett and also lived in Bishopstone. She attended South Wilts Grammar.

At the age of 19 she became a principal at Uplands School on Dorset Road in Salisbury. She remained at the helm until the early 1970s.

Downton-born Colin, 93, worked at the National Provincial Bank, which later became known as NatWest. He started his career at the branch in Blue Boar Row later becoming a manager in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It was a role which he undertook for more than 40 years. He served in a number of different branches during his career.

The former Bishop Wordsworth's School student took a break from his banking career when he was called up for war service during the Second World War and commissioned into to the Wiltshire Regiment. This took him to Mesopotamia, which is now known as Iraq.

The couple have three children Philip, Vivienne and Nicholas, and two grandchildren.

On celebrating the milestone, Rozalie and Colin said "there is so much to be grateful for" and emphasised the importance of supporting each other.

The couple enjoyed a celebration at home due to Covid-19 restrictions with their immediate family.

Rozalie and Colin continue family traditions of long marriages. Rozalie's grandparents Sidney and Eliza Kent, who were married for 67 years and Colin's parents Winifred and Wilfred Everett, who were just five months shy of celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary.