Keith and Rossalyn Elliott will be celebrating a very special Christmas this year as Boxing Day is also their diamond wedding anniversary.
The happy couple, of Musgrave Street, Penrith, say the secret of their successful marriage is they enjoy each other’s company, as well as a healthy lifestyle, that includes growing fruit and veg.
Rossalyn, aged 78, told the Herald: “We get on and we don’t drink and we don’t smoke, and we just get on with enjoying life, we are both gardeners and we have an allotment.”
The pair enjoy tending to their allotment near their Musgrave Street home, which creates all sorts of tasty produce for the table, including potatoes, brussels sprouts, sweetcorn, apples, pears, blackcurrants, blackberries and cherries.
Keith, aged 86, said he met Rossalyn as a young man when he was “down town” one Saturday with his friend and she walked past on the opposite side of the road. Soon they were courting with a date at the Alhambra Cinema
Other memories of their courting days include a romantic walk on the ice on Ullswater during the big freeze of 1963, one of the coldest winters on record. The couple, who have lived their whole lives in Penrith, were married on Boxing Day in 1964 at St Andrew’s Church, where the wintry theme continued.
There was sleet snow coming down in Penrith on that day adding to the atmosphere. They recall their reception at the former Abbotswood Hotel, in Wordsworth Street, Penrith.
The married couple, who are now enjoying their retirement, spent their working lives in the area, Keith working in a number of roles over the years including his first job after leaving school at the local Tudor Bakery; before going on to work at the former Hartley’s saw mill, that was steam powered.
He also worked at Penrith Urban District Council for the water board, and also Penrith Post Office as a delivery driver for 22-plus years delivering to Skelton, Kirkoswald and Crosby Ravensworth areas.
Rossalyn is also well known locally having worked in catering for many years, including at Penrith Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and Ullswater School. She was also cook at the Edington Centre, in Penrith for 23 years.
The pair have three children, Lesley, Angela and Paul, plus six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
The family are planning a special get together on Boxing Day to celebrate their anniversary.
“To think that 60 years has gone by, it is just amazing,” says Rossalyn. “Not many of us get this far.
“We have both done this and all sorts, we have enjoyed life.”
