Chilton couple celebrate 50 years of marriage (From The Advertiser Series)

Chilton couple celebrate 50 years of marriage

9:45am Sunday 17th March 2013 in News By Lizzie Anderson

A COUPLE who met at a local dance are still proving the perfect partners after 50 years of marriage.

Bill Garforth, from Newfield, near Bishop Auckland, met his future wife Anne at a dance in the town when they were both 17-years-old and the pair have been inseparable ever since.

After a four year courtship, the couple married at St Aiden’s Church in Chilton on March 16 1963 and set up their first home in Ferryhill station.

A few years later they moved to Chilton and have lived there ever since. Mr Garforth, 71, worked as a miner and later specialised in gas pipes.

Mrs Garforth, who is also 71 and originally from Ferryhill, worked at a clothes factory and bookmakers.

At a Golden Anniversary party at their home on Jade Walk on Saturday (March 16), the couple were joined by their son and daughter, Karen and David, grandchildren Joanna, James, Kyle and Maddox, and many other friends and relatives.

The Mayor of Chilton, Councillor Elizabeth Bruce, also attended and presented the happy pair with a bouquet of flowers.

Their daughter Karen Campbell added: “They are wonderful parents – you could not ask for anybody nicer. “They always put the family first and whatever you ask of them is never a problem.”