Golden couple celebrate with church

On Sunday they will mark their golden wedding with members of Bexhill United Reformed Church.

Ruth said: "We are actually celebrating at Church with cake for the congregation. When we have so many people involved in our life we thought it would be nice.

"We have a Fellowship Sunday once a month so we decided to have a cake to share with the people of the Church."

The couple will then next weekend enjoy an informal family get-together to mark the anniversary itself, on Friday February 1.

Their daughter Helen will attend with husband Tim and sons Dan and Ben, while their other daughter Ann will come with her family, Guy, George and Grace.

Brian, 69, and Ruth, 71, who live in Woodsgate Park, both grew up in Bath and met at Rush Hill Congregational Church.

"We went to Sunday School together," said Ruth, "and then we both became Sunday School teachers. We have been together ever since."

They married in 1958, and shortly after Brian offered for the Christian Ministry and went to Western College in Bristol, while Ruth worked for the Admiralty to support the couple during the four years of training.

Brian was ordained in 1963 and inducted to the pastorate of Andover Congregational Church in Hampshire, when he was 24. The couple served there together for eight years and at the same time raised their family.

They moved to Bury Park Congregational church in Luton in 1971, then seven years later moved to Robertson Street United Reformed Church in Hastings, and the village churches of Ashburnham, Brightling, Netherfield, Robertsbridge and Sedlescombe.

In January 1990 the couple moved to Dorking in Surrey; Brian extended his work by acting as Chaplain to hospitals and other organisations, while Ruth was involved in church life in many ways, including Women's World Day of Prayer.

They retired to Bexhill in 2003 and became part of the local church scene as well as Interim Minister of the new Bexhill United Reformed church, which is soon to find a new home in Cantelupe Road, as well as a new full-time Minister. To make sure Brian is busy in the future, he has become Chaplain to Bexhill Ambulance Station, and a Trustee of the Servants With Jesus at the Coach House.