A COUPLE from Haverfordwest will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary together today (Wednesday).

Charles and Jean Weatherall of Slade Park, Haverfordwest have spent 70 long, happy years of marriage together.

The couple are 94 and 90 respectively, and have a son Ronald, 60, and three grandsons Wayne, Darren, and Paul.

They were married in York Place Baptist Church, Swansea on December 27, 1947, by minister R. R. Roberts, father of Welsh actor Rachel Roberts, who appeared in 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express.

They had met two years earlier at Kensington Hospital, St Brides, which was at the time a tuberculosis hospital for children.

Jean moved there aged 16 from her childhood home of Mayhill, Swansea to work as a nurse.

Charles, who grew up in Pembroke, had spent his early teenage years at the hospital recovering from TB, and in 1944 returned aged 19 to work as a groundsman.

They struck up a relationship soon after Jean arrived, and after marrying spent 31 years living in a cottage on the hospital estate, until it closed in 1978.

The couple both enjoyed their life at Kensington Hospital, which was a community of its own with staff living nearby.

“It was such a wonderful outlook there,” says Jean. “You could see the sea, and every time you looked out of the window there was a different view.”

The Weatheralls next moved to St Ishmaels, and both worked at Withybush Hospital when it opened.

Charles became deputy head porter at the hospital, and oversaw the furnishing of every ward throughout the building.

In 1983, they both retired – Jean first at 55, and soon after Charles at 60.

In their years of working in healthcare, they saw the birth of the NHS, and both believe the hard work of staff often goes unrecognised.

“When people would come in and complain they had no idea of the things the staff and nurses had to put up with,” says Charles.

And their secret to a long and happy marriage?

“Give and take,” said Charles.

“I give, and she takes!” he joked.

On a more serious note Charles added: “People say they don’t quarrel, well that’s not true.

“We do quarrel occasionally but the nice thing about it is the peace that comes when you make up.

“We never go to sleep without making up.”

For their Platinum wedding anniversary, Charles and Jean will receive a letter from the Queen congratulating them.

The Weatheralls plan to celebrate the anniversary with their family once the Christmas season has come to an end.