Waterlooville couple say they 'found paradise' together on 50th wedding anniversary

Ruth, 71, says: ‘It's a strange old thing. You look forward to reaching anniversaries. When this is all over, we’ll have a really big celebration.’

Keith, 72, and Ruth, née Chandler, now live at Waterlooville and met at Leigh Park Bowling Alley in September 1965.

‘I was 16 and he was 17,’ explains Ruth.

She laughs and says: ‘Keith would ride over on his scooter.

‘ I thought he was very posh because he was from Horndean.’

While they were dating, Ruth completed her secretarial course at Northern Grammar School – now Mayfield School – while Keith worked for the Butser Turf company.

Ruth says: ‘We got engaged in September 1967, so near to our second anniversary.

‘We had a bit of a party, one which went from pub to pub.

‘We started at our local The Rising Sun at Clanfield and got down to The Ship at Langstone.’

The couple tied the knot on May 9, 1970, at Catherington Church in front of 60 guests.

‘The afternoon reception at the Curzon Rooms, Waterlooville, cost £3 per head and we had the Queen’s sherry as you came in the door.

‘My mum thought we were awful posh,’ explains Ruth.

‘We didn’t have an evening reception.

‘My sister, who was one of my bridesmaids, had a house in Devizes, Wiltshire, so we stayed there for a couple of days until our rented flat in Havant was ready.’

When they moved to Havant, Ruth started working for Plessey at West Leigh while Keith trained and worked as a gentleman’s hairdresser in his family-run business, Knipe Hairdressers.

Ruth says: ‘Keith’s grandfather started the hairdresser business in 1910 and they had shops at Fareham, Southsea and North End.

‘He also had a hairdresser by the dockyard gates in Commercial Road.’

It was in 1973 that the Knipes had their son Robert and 10 years later they welcomed their daughter Helen into the world.

Twenty one years on, Ruth and Keith packed up their house in Waterlooville and moved to the south of France.

Ruth smiles and says: ‘We bought a house in Rodez 30 years ago. It’s one of the least inhabited places in the whole of France and it is just beautiful.

‘We always say we found paradise.’

With her Tefl course under her belt, Ruth spent her days teaching English to the young children in the village while Keith worked on farms, wood mills and in other jobs.

‘We were there for five years,’ she says.

‘We built up a nice community and by the time we left, some of our young students were practically fluent in English,’ explains Ruth.

‘While you’re out there, you pick up the language and Keith became as fluent as me.’

Eleven years ago, Ruth and Keith moved back to Waterlooville to watch their grandchildren grow up but still go back to Rodez every summer.

Although they can’t celebrate at the moment, they are looking forward to raising a glass with their family when it is safe to do so.

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