Filey couple celebrate 70 years of marriage with fish and chip dinner

Mr and Mrs Ballinger celebrated with a fish and chip dinner

A Filey couple who met, fell in love and married within six months have celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary.

Tom Ballinger, 93, met wife-to-be Peggy, 92, at the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, in March 1952.

Mr Ballinger, who lives on Chevin Drive, was in the army and was a patient at the hospital, where Peggy was working as a member of staff.

The couple got talking and quickly became inseparable, six months after their first meeting, in September 1952, they married at St Andrew's Church in Clubmoor, a suburb of Liverpool.

Tom and Peggy Ballinger are celebrating 70 years of marriage

The couple moved into Mr Ballinger’s family home in Liverpool, where they lived and raised their family.

Mr Ballinger worked as a manager in the building trade, while his wife was an official in a girls remand home.

Children soon followed, and the couple now have two daughters, Linda and Susan, five grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.

Susan lives in Filey and Linda lives in Dronfield, Derbyshire, and the close-knit family see each other as often as possible.

The couple received three cards of congratulations from Queen Elizabeth II

As the family grew, Mr and Mrs Ballinger would cross the country to visit Filey on holiday.

Mr Ballinger said: "We came here once for a weekend and ended up staying the week,

"We fell in love with the place and would come over regularly.

"The place grew on us and we decided to retire here."

The couple bought a bungalow in 1982 and when the time for retirement came, they moved to Chevin Drive permanently..

Mr Ballinger said: “We like everything about the town –the people, the location.

“We couldn't go back and live in a city now.”

The couple spent their free time watching the motorbike racing at Oliver's Mount and they both learned to swim later in life – Mr Ballinger at the age of 69.

Mr Ballinger said the key to a long and happy marriage was a good sense of humour and plenty of give and take.

He said: “And most importantly, never go to bed without making up after an argument.”

Mr and Mrs Ballinger celebrated their anniversary with a fish and chip dinner and proudly displayed the three cards they received from Her Majesty the Queen to celebrate their marriage, one for their 60th anniversary, one for their 65th and the most recent for their 70th.