Wartime penpals celebrate 60 years together

George and Barbara Hickmore left Clewer parish church in Windsor after the marriage ceremony to be greeted by a carpet of snow.

They had got married after getting to know each other through pen letters during the second world war.

Barbara (83) began the correspondence while she served as an auxiliary policewoman answering phones and typing in her home town of Windsor.

The chief constable encouraged the letters to boost the morale of the troops as they served abroad.

Barbara's letters found their way to George while he was stationed overseas with the Royal Signals section of the Eighth Army with which he spent six years.

He had grown up in a police orphanage in Redhill and became a policeman after being demobbed.

By then, he and Barbara had met during two years of writing to each other when he travelled to her home in his uniform while he was on leave.

A further two years passed before their marriage.They both became members of the Windsor Police Force for a short period without working together.

The newly-weds moved to Didcot and moved to their home in Links Avenue when George (86) retired after 28-and-a-half years as a policeman.

He worked in the law courts at Chichester during his first years in the area.

He and Barbara celebrated last Thursday'sdiamond anniversary of their wedding quietly.

Their daughter, Susan, travelled from her home in Poole for the occasion. Their son, Brian, is a teacher in the south of France.

The couple also have three grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Barbara said the past six decades had passed quickly even if they had not always been peaceful.

'We argue,' she explained, 'but we get over it. Neither of us bears a grudge and we don't sulk.'