Golden couple Paul and Jean mark 50 years of marriage

A golden couple have marked half-a-century of happy matrimonial memories, having first met at a dance hall in Castleford.
Golden wedding anniversary Paul and Jean SharpeGolden wedding anniversary Paul and Jean Sharpe
Golden wedding anniversary Paul and Jean Sharpe

Paul and Jean Sharpe both grew up in the town but only met for the first time at The Kiosk in 1967.

“I kept running away but she kept up with me,” joked 71-year-old Paul who says it was Jean who initially asked him to dance.

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Three years later the pair tied the knot after Paul proposed armed with a bunch of roses, although is uncertain if he went down on one knee.

They were wed at the registry office in Pontefract with only immediate family present, but then threw a big bash at the West Riding Hotel in Glass Houghton, which has since been converted into a Chinese restaurant. The happy couple then went on their honeymoon to Blackpool, which was one of the leading destinations for newlyweds at the time.

Paul is a retired miner who worked at Wheldale Colliery in Castleford until its closure in 1987,

He then moved to Kellingley Colliery near Knottingley.

Jean, 68, worked at Castletex clothes company and Bateson’s bakery shop.

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They had a son and now have two grandchildren, one of which lives abroad.

The family recently got together to celebrate their 50 years of marriage at The Wheatsheaf pub in Castleford.

And the secret to a long and happy marriage?

“It’s all about having love and respect,” said Jean.

For Paul, he joked: “I married her for her money - although she hasn’t got any!”

When Paul and Jean married in 1970, Edison Lighthouse’s ‘Love Grows’ was number one in the music charts.

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The average price of a pint was just 20p, a brand-new Mini was yours for just £600 and house hunters could pick up an average home for under £5,000.

Burt Bacharach picked up the best original score for his music in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at the 42nd Academy Awards, while a jumbo jet landed in the UK for the first time, touching down at Heathrow.

Computer technology still lagged in 1970, but a breakthrough that year came in the shape of the floppy disk, created by IBM.

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