“You need to do things together, you need to do things for yourself and you need to have the same sense of humour,” says Jo Keogh, reflecting on 50 years of marriage with her husband Chris.
The couple, of High Street, Kirkby Stephen, celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a Cumbrian high tea party at Soulby village hall, surrounded by family and friends.
Penrith-born Chris, the son of the late Harry and Rosemary Keogh, grew up at the Herb Farm, Ivegill, while Jo hails from Oxted, in Surrey. Her mother, Joan O’Neill, who was married to Eric who died in 1980, moved to Acomb House, in Hartley, near Kirkby Stephen, in 1986, where she lived until her death at the age of 90 in 2009.
Chris and Jo met in 1972 at the University of Aberystwyth where they were both members of its ballroom dancing club.
In a letter home to her mother — which had been kept after all these years — Jo said she was very impressed with his prowess at the Viennese waltz.
They got married two years later at Hurst Green, near Oxted, and their best man, bridesmaids and pageboy were all present at the party, with the latter, Jo’s nephew David Drinkwater, having flown in from New York.
Their first married home was at Rowhill, near Raughton Head, and they moved to Kirkby Stephen at the end of 1978 after the birth of their first son, Andrew, who was followed by Stephen, born in 1980. They also have two grandchildren, Emma and Adam.
In Kirkby Stephen, Chris and Jo set up Country Flavour as an offshoot of Harry and Rosemary’s thriving Herb Farm business.
Jo said: “We didn’t carry on with the herb plants, but we carried on with the other things they had been making — lemon cheese, the traditional regional name for lemon curd, jam, marmalade, fudge and herb jellies.”
The business took off when they started attending Hawes market, which Stephen, representing the third generation of the family business, still attends on most Tuesdays.
Both Chris and Jo have been active members of the Kirkby Stephen Parish Church community, with Jo also being a keen bell ringer and member of its choir, while Chris also enjoys attending events organised by Churches Together in Kirkby Stephen. They also share an interest in amateur dramatics, having performed together on stage with the Lune Spring Players in Newbiggin-on-Lune, while Jo has also performed with Penrith Players.
