Farm life led to 60 diamond years for pair

Jim and Doris Town, both 87, of Delph Brow, Halifax celebrated their Diamond wedding anniversary on March 31.

The pair met when Jim delivered milk to the farm where Doris worked and they soon began courting. Dates included a summer’s evening stroll to another local farm to collect a sow and herd it back.

Mr Town was born at Moorend Farm, Highroad Well, and attended Battinson Road School and Sowerby Bridge Grammar School.

He was a member of Pellon Boys Brigade and in 1943, as part of the war effort, spent three weeks working on The Grange Farm, Bomere Heath.

It was this introduction to farming that saw him return there as a farm labourer when he left school. In 1950 he returned to Halifax to live and farm at North Clough Head Farm, Warley.

Mrs Town was born in Huddersfield and from the age of four, grew up in a children’s home in Parkinson Lane, attending Parkinson Lane Junior School and Haugh Shaw School.

Her education was cut short when at age 14, she was placed with a family and worked on their farm as land girl until 1955. She then went to work for Halifax Dairies delivering milk.

After their sweet beginning, the pair tied the knot at Pellon Methodist Church on March 31, 1956, and lived and farmed at North Clough Head.

Mr Town was a milkman until he retired in 1989 and Mrs Town qualified as a driving instructor in the 1970s and ran her own driving school.

The couple went on to have three daughters; Mary, 58, Vanessa, 56 and Helen, 54, who now lives in Australia. They also have three granddaughters; Sarah, 30, Rebecca, 29, and Hester, 23.

Mr Town attends the Halifax Probus Club and they both attend the Halifax Blind Association, as Mr Town is now registered blind.

To commemorate the occasion they received a card from the Queen and had a celebration meal with family and friends at the Shibden Mereside Cafe on Easter Sunday afternoon.

The couple are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of their first great grandchild in a few weeks time.