A BROMSGROVE couple have celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary today.
Mike and June Bottley, who live in Sidemoor, are due to toast the magnificent milestone at a family function on Saturday night.
Mike’s family moved to Bromsgrove from Dudley after the 1926 general strike because his dad, a trade union man, had been blackballed by the local employers and he had been offered work as engineering manager at the clothing factory on Carlyle Road. The Bottley family made their home in Aston Fields where Mike was born in 1931.
June Bottley, née Parker, was born in 1932 in Pumphouse Lane, Hanbury where the family lived prior to moving to the Stourbridge Road.
There she had childhood memories of the American servicemen who were based at All Saints Hospital during the Second World War and arrived with their gifts for the Bromsgrovians, including bubble-gum and nylon stockings. They were later recorded for posterity for the Imperial War Museum archives.
A twist of fate led to Mike meeting June at a Finstall Youth Club dance at the Village Hall during 1948.
The pair said it was love at first sight and so the next stop was All Saints Church on September 1, 1951, to get married.
After a short period living with June’s mum and dad, the pair moved to their first house on Charford, obtained through Mike’s employment record in the engineering office at Garringtons where he had been the lead apprentice.
The Bottley family were Charford residents until 1967 when they moved to their current home on Sidemoor. The pair have three children, four and four great grandchildren.
To support the clan Mike went on to Hymatic Engineering in Redditch where he worked his way up to marketing director. The role entailed extensive international travel throughout Europe, to the USA, South Africa and Israel winning contracts on numerous prestigious aerospace projects. It included Hymatic’s involvement in the design of Concorde’s fuel system.
June, in addition to running the Bottley household, undertook a variety of part-time jobs to supplement the family income, including at the Bellman’s Wool Shop, working as a ‘Pink Lady’, at Meadows Infant School, and at the OXFAM Charity Shop.
Socially Mike and June built a big network of friends with June being a long -term WI member and Mike joining PROBUS after retirement.
Their son Philip said: “With their outgoing attitude they have both enjoyed full and active social lives.
“All in all it has been quite a 70 years for June and Mike Bottley.”
