SPARKLING Rubery couple Ray and Joan Powell are toasting their diamond wedding anniversary today (Tuesday).
The pair celebrated the marvelous milestone over the weekend with a party, surrounded by their family.
Ray Powell, who turns 99 on Boxing Day, was born in Nechells and grew up in Aston while Joan Hartley was born in Winson Green and grew up in Northfield.
Joan was a sewing machinist at Austin Motor Company in Longbridge, where Ray also worked, as an upholsterer.
But the pair did not meet until a works outing to the London Palladium.
Ray said, as soon as he saw Joan, he was ‘instantly besotted’.
The pair got married at St Laurence’s Church in Northfield on a beautiful sunny October 7, 1950.
The pair on their wedding day on October 7, 1950. s
The honeymoon
They honeymooned in Brailes, near Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire. There, they hired two bikes and, it was not until they were coming downhill, they realised the brakes did not work.
They later bought their own bikes because they could not initially afford a car. They replaced those with a £50 tandem because Ray said he was fed up with having to wait for Joan to catch up.
A tandem meant she was always just behind him.
He realised, pretty quickly, he was doing most of the work when he looked in the wing mirror and Joan was sat there, touching up her make-up, instead of the pedals.
These days they mostly enjoy socialising but they used to love ballroom dancing and travelling.
Joan is a talented dressmaker and still a fantastic knitter.
Ray loved gardening, art, reading and chess. And, when he retired, he taught himself German.
The pair’s first home was in Northfield but they moved to Waseley Road, Rubery, in 1964.
They had two children – Lynne and Michael, three grandchildren – Aaron, Laura and Michael, two great grandchildren – Roman, Theo and another one on the way.
The pair celebrated their milestone surrounded by family, including Barbara Blunn (daughter-in-law’s mum), their grandson Michael, his son Roman (aged two), Michael’s wife Hannah and their daughter-in-law Sue. s
And, when asked the secret to a long marriage, Joan joked: “I’d got nowhere else to go.”
But both agreed ‘it’s about marrying the one you love and enjoying sharing the same interests’.
