Long-standing village couple’s milestone
Naseby couple John and Wendy Gould are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday.
Two Naseby residents who married during one of the country’s worst ever winters are celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary on Saturday.
John and Wendy Gould were wed in 1963 and on their wedding day a path had to be dug to the door of All Saints Church in Naseby through six feet of snow (see inset picture). The couple have a son, Geoff, who married wife Jo at the same church, and twin granddaughters Cherise and Danielle.
The long-standing Naseby residents met in the late 1950s when John worked as a farm labourer at Shuckburgh Farm along the Welford Road and Wendy was staying with her auntie Mary and uncle George Bromell at Mill Hill farm in Sibbertoft Road.
John worked on the farm until 11am on their wedding day, breaking the ice on troughs so the cattle could drink. They were married at midday and he then went back to work at 3.30pm to make sure the animals were fed and watered.
Their wedding reception was at The Wharf in Welford, attended by 50 guests for which Wendy’s father paid £1 per head for the meal.
Wendy was raised in Ludlow, Shropshire, the eldest of three children to Alec and Laura Northwood. John was born in Dudley, West Midlands, and was the only son of Bill and Martha Gould.
They moved to Naseby in 1952 as Bill’s army platoon trained at Haselbech during the Second World War and he loved the area.
Always happy and cheerful, Bill and Martha were popular characters around the area. Bill was a common sight around the village on his bicycle and was still working as a painter and decorator well into his 70s.
Wendy and John have one son, Geoff, who married Jo in 1989, also at All Saints Church, Naseby, and have 23-year-old twin daughters, Cherise and Danielle.
John and Wendy are keen church-goers, indeed, John has been in the Naseby church choir for 61 years and has a fine bass voice.
He has sung at countless weddings and concerts but is as yet undiscovered by Simon Cowell!
Wendy was a teacher all her working life, starting at Guilsborough County School in its first year of opening when she was just 19 years old and the majority of students were young farmers. She went on to teach younger children at Swinford, Farndon Fields in Harborough and finished up at Welford
School where she was deputy head.
John and Wendy have many friends in the area and also in Austria where they enjoyed skiing for 25 years until quite recently when they decided to hang up their skis for good.
They have lived in various houses around Naseby during their 50 years of marriage,
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Weather for Harborough
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 5 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
