Angela and Norris Platts, have celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary – and it all started because of a complaint over crockery.
In January 1947, 24-year-old Mr Platts – an aircraft engineer and former RAF officer – walked into the Bournemouth shop where his future bride was working.
Although he had come to complain about the object that he had bought from the shop some days earlier, his frustration was suddenly eased and he was instantly lovestruck. After a nine-month courtship – which included a first date to see a film at a Bournemouth cinema – the pair were married at St Christopher’s Church in Southbourne on 20 September.
The couple, who are now both aged 92, honeymooned in Guernsey and a fortnight after their wedding they flew to Canada for Mr Platts to take a new job.
During the next 14 years, they constantly moved, living in 13 different places across North America.
It was in December 1961 that Mr Platts moved to the Island to take up a role with Jersey Airlines.
Soon after Mrs Platts joined him and the couple moved into their first home in St Aubin.
Their three sons – Christopher, Geoffrey and Andrew – all grew up in the Island and went to school at Hautlieu.
When the boys went to university, Mrs Platts, who worked as a medical social officer during the war, took on a new job at the post office, which she kept for a number of years.
The couple now have two-grandchildren, three step-grandchildren and three step-great-grandchildren.
Since moving to the Island, they have rarely spent a night apart and share a number of hobbies, including working on DIY projects, gardening and watching sport.
Until recently, the Platts would make an annual trip to Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands, a place that has become very close to their hearts.
Speaking at a family party held at the couple’s St Lawrence home to celebrate their anniversary on Sunday, Mr Platts said that he was ‘incredibly lucky’ to have met his wife nearly seven decades ago.
Asked what the key to a successful marriage was, he joked: ‘Always agree with your wife whatever she says!
‘Angela is marvelous, absolutely marvelous.
‘We’ve never fought and we’ve always made sure we talked over any problems.
‘It’s amazing to think that we met because of a broken teapot – if it hadn’t been for that we might never have crossed paths.’
Mrs Platts said that ‘love is all you need’ and that she could not imagine having a better husband.
