Give and take is couple's secret

Keen Pagham bowlers Joan and Peter Evans have celebrated six decades together.

The diamond wedding anniversary couple were founder members of Nyetimber Short Mat Bowls Club more than ten years ago.

They still turn out at least three times a week to hone their skills with the woods and jacks at its meeting place of Pagham Village Hall.

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Mrs Evans, 81, of Viscount Drive, said: "It keeps us fit." Their friends in the bowling club organised a basket of flowers to start the couple's anniversary day with a celebration.

They also arranged for a photograph and large banner to be displayed at the local pub where Mr and Mrs Evans had a quiet meal with their two sons and daughters in law and two friends.

"Every couple has their cross moments," explained Mrs Evans. "It's important to get over them and have some give and take."

Mr and Mrs Evans were both born and grew up in Barnes in south west London. They even went to the same school '“ Barnes Central '“ at one time.

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But it was not until the second world war that they met in a local pub. Mr Evans, 83, was a sailor in the Royal Navy and drank at a pub where his future wife regularly played darts.

Some two-and-a-half years after their first meeting, they were married in Holy Trinity Church in Barnes in south west London on February 26, 1949.

They have two surviving children '“ Raymond and Terry '“ after their daughter, Linda, died in 2002. Their family is completed by six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

While the children were still young, Mr and Mrs Evans bought a caravan at Church Farm Holiday Village in Pagham.

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Their enjoyable time there paved the way for their move to the area when they retired.

Mrs Evans was an office manager for a printing company in Barnes as well as being a governor of a local school and a founder of a residents' association.

Mr Evans spent most of his married life as a representative of a lead merchant and is also a long-standing member of the Freemasons.

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