Couple toast 60 years together after meeting at a dance

GRAHAM and Freda Davies met on the dance floor as teenagers – and more than 60 years later have celebrated their diamond wedding.

The pair marked their 60th wedding anniversary with events at the Lennox Club in Bargoed and at home in Blackwood.

The couple got together as teens in the mid-1950s at the Cefn Fforest Institute, Blackwood, where they both liked to go dancing.

“I met him on my 16th birthday actually,” Freda, 78, said. “I was always a dancing girl and he was a Teddy Boy.”

Freda said they began courting and were married two years later on March 8, 1958, at St David’s Church, Fleur-deLis.

“It was four days after my 18th birthday actually,” Freda said. “My father wouldn’t let me before that, he said I had to be 18. He said it was then you came of age really.”

Freda added that she never had a honeymoon and, to this day, she is still waiting for Graham to take her.

The couple settled down in Blackwood and had three daughters – Jacquelyn, Michele and Joanne.

They now enjoy the company of their six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and are looking forward to welcoming a fourth to the family later this year.

“The thing is there’s no boss in this relationship, it’s a partnership,” Freda added. “We have an argument and then it is forgotten about.”

They marked their 60 years of marriage with a celebration at home in Blackwood on their anniversary day and another on Saturday evening at the Lennox Club. The events were attended by the couple’s family, friends and neighbours.

Freda and Graham’s daughter Jacqui Williams said: “In my 56 years they have been the best parents through good times and bad and have always been there supporting us in every possible way.

“They always made sure we never went without, and my sisters and myself would like to thank them and wish them continued happiness in years to come.

“To see their faces when they knew they were having two small celebrations, one for friends and neighbours on the actual day and then on Saturday evening, was an absolute picture.”