A COUPLE in Black Dam will soon be celebrating a milestone anniversary, as they celebrate more than 60 years together.

Joyce and Chas (Charles) Gleed, originally from North Kent, will be celebrating their blue sapphire wedding anniversary of 65 years together, having met on a train when she was 17 and he was 22 in 1950.

They married two years later on May 24, 1952 at St Augustin’s Church in Slade Green, North Kent.

They moved from Kent to Basingstoke in 1963, where Chas became the overseas manager of Palgrave Macmillan, the publishing company, rising up through the ranks from being a clerk.

“My mother spotted him two years before I met him on the train,” Joyce, 84, said. “We met on the train to London where I was working for Ede and Ravenscroft, putting lace and silk into graduation gowns and robes for judges.

“It’s been lovely, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure we would last or live this long to see an anniversary like this, but it is wonderful to be able to do so.”

The couple recently celebrated Chas’ 90th birthday on April 10 with the whole family, and combined that event with their family celebration of their wedding anniversary. However, the couple have got a cruise booked to the Canary Islands, to really celebrate their time together.

Joyce continued: “We had a great celebration with our family, but it will be really nice to take some time together, just the two of us, to celebrate our marriage.”