Couple celebrate 65th anniversary

Buy photos » Tom and Beryl Wareing are still very much in love today as they celebrate 65 years of marriage. Picture by Marcus Mingins 0512021MMR1

A PAIR of childhood sweethearts and community servants are set to mark 65 years of wedded bliss.

Tom and Beryl Wareing will be taking a trip to Sidmouth in Devon to celebrate the achievement on Sunday, February 12.

The couple, from Plymouth Close, first met when Tom was ten and Beryl was eight at Billesley Baptist Church Sunday School and as teenagers they both joined the army.

Tom was discharged with dysentery and malaria, illnesses he still suffers with now, and while at home on leave the couple, aged 19 and 18 respectively, married at a Birmingham register office in 1947.

Having moved to Redditch in January 1956, Tom became a county and borough councillor before retiring in 2005 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Talking about the secret to a long marriage, he said: “The simple answer is that we love each other very much. I think it is also because we are very well matched.”

Beryl added: “We are a good match because we have known each other since we are children and share the same values.”

Both have been very active in the Redditch community and still serve with the Salvation Army.

Tom assumed a position as chairman of governors at Dingleside Middle School, having been on the board there for 36 years.

He was also a governor at Redditch College - now NEW College - and Bridley Moor High School.

Beryl has been a member of the Crabbs Cross Corps Sunday School and was a governor at St Stephen’s First, Webheath First and Birchensale Middle Schools.

The couple have four sons - David, Bob, Paul and Mark - 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.