Saving damsel proves a ‘diamond’ ploy for Littlehampton man

Mervyn Brewer, 88, of The Haven, Littlehampton, certainly never contemplated the possibility when he answered a call for help from his unknowing wife-to-be, Margaret, outside The Oval pub, in Croydon.

Margaret, who was only 20 at the time, was stranded outside the public house after the chain on her push bike slipped off. Margaret, now 82, asked Mervyn, who had just finished his pint, to help.

“She was just stuck out there and I thought I ought to lend her a hand,” admitted Mervyn.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

The couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary this month, having tied the knot at St Mary Magdalene Church, in Addiscombe, Croydon, on May 16, 1953 – about three years after they met.

They agreed that the secret of a long and happy marriage was understanding one another’s flaws, and trying their best not to argue.

Mervyn said: “Don’t get me wrong, we have small arguments here and there but it’s never anything we can’t work through.

“We have supported each other through the hard times and that has made us stronger.”

Mervyn was the youngest of nine and was born in Devon. In 1943, at the age of 18, he joined the Royal Navy and was stationed as a radar operator on the aircraft carrier HMS Speaker.

He fought in the Pacific and was one of the first military personnel from the UK to see the devastated Japanese city of Nagasaki after the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on it in August, 1945.

Margaret was born in South London, in 1931. During the war, she was evacuated to Brighton. In later life, she worked as a civil servant, while Mervyn became a postman in Croydon.

They moved to Littlehampton in 1984, and have two grown-up children and one grandchild,