Paul and Roma, a couple residing in Hay-on-Wye at Cartref Residential Home, recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

Staff at the residential home organised an afternoon of food and music for residents to enjoy on Thursday, August 29 for the anniversary celebrations.

Before eating a buffet meal, Paul and Roma were handed a card, sent from Buckingham Palace, wishing them a happy anniversary. The couple received a similar card five years ago from Queen Elizabeth II on their 60th wedding anniversary.

Lyndon Eatough-Smith provided music for the afternoon from 1959, South Pacific and Frank Sinatra - some of Paul and Roma’s favourites.

The couple first met in 1958 at a dance but it was a rather awkward encounter, as Paul had brought another girl along. He was doing this as a favour, as this girl was a sister to one of his friends.

He spotted Roma and wanted to ask her to dance but only managed to get a couple of dances with her as he didn’t want to upset his friend’s sister. Paul asked Roma if she would go on a date with him and thought long and hard about where he would take Roma. He bought tickets to a show, South Pacific, in London. 

They got engaged in April on Roma’s birthday and married each other in August at a church near Reading.

Paul was a research chemist and Roma a home economics teacher.

They hired their wedding outfits from a designer shop in London where all the celebrities and stars hired theirs from. It cost as much to hire the outfits as to buy them in those days, especially Roma’s dress, made of crinoline and French lace.

They then spent a wonderful honeymoon in Cornwall. Dancing has always been a hobby of theirs and they both danced away on their honeymoon to Frank Sinatra’s ‘London by Night.’

When Paul was asked how their marriage stood the test of time, he said: “That’s easy, Roma always gets her own way.”

Asking Roma the same question, she said: “Paul is the perfect gentleman, very easy to get along with, has a great sense of humour and I understand him well.”