Marriage milestone for Waltham couple

THE secret to a long and happy marriage is "patience" and "tolerance" according to a couple who have been married for 72 years.

Charles and Olive Nundy have stuck together through the sort of challenges that people of the modern era can barely understand.

The pair met in 1940 outside Scunthorpe Drill Hall after a dance, when Grimsby boy Charles, now 98, asked Olive if she was free to go out that week.

"I said yes and that was my fate sealed," joked Olive, 96.

The pair were married in 1941 during the Second World War but it wasn't a lavish affair as the nation was living on rations.

Charles said: "There was no hitting the town for a big party back then – you did what you could at your home."

But people were willing to help each other out, Olive explained.

"Things like dried fruit were hard to come by but we had a lovely cake because a friend of ours who owned a wool shop approached her friends and gave us everything we needed as a wedding gift," she said.

Charles was an officer for Lincolnshire Police and was therefore exempt from service at the beginning of the war.

However, after the Battle of Dunkirk, policemen under the age of 25 were asked to sign up for one of the services and Charles joined the army's Special Investigation Branch.

He said: "Of every three containers that arrived, one was pilfered, and the army needed to put a stop to it."

In 1944 he was drafted to India – while Olive was pregnant with their first born.

He tried to delay the draft on compassionate grounds but was not allowed so Charles did not get to meet his daughter Christine until she was a year old.

Olive said: "Christine burst into tears when she first saw him – I think she was scared because he had his uniform and his rucksack on."

Charles added: "At that point, I knew exactly what to expect."

But after more than 18 months apart, they picked up where they left off and continued their long, happy marriage, celebrating their 72nd anniversary.

The couple, of Ronald Farmer Court, Waltham, have two children, Christine and Heather, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

So what's the secret?

Olive said: "I've got a lot of patience and I'm quite easy-going.

"He never used to but he washes up now and he's always made a lovely cake so that helps."

Charles agreed: "She is very tolerant and she's given me a lovely family," he said.