Long-lasting LOVE

These couples prove that marriages really can stand the test of time

- KATE CHAPMAN

‘The tough times have made us stronger’

Jean Finta, 78, a retired cook and housekeeper, lives in Eyam, Derbyshire, with husband Sándor, 81, a retired steel-factory worker. They married on 29 July 1961 and will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this July.

JEAN SAYS: ‘Sándor has been the light of my life. He came to England from Hungary after the uprisings, when he was 16. I met him when I was 15 and working in a shop in Sheffield. I was meeting a friend for coffee when his friend took a liking to mine. They followed us to a dance and saw us home on the bus, even though there wasn’t a return one. They were smartly dressed, in light-coloured raincoats. I had some black dye in my bag for my shoes and it leaked all over his coat! He and his friend slept in a barn when they couldn’t get home. We saw them both looking dishevelled the next morning!

We bumped into each other again and he told me he was going to live in Canada – luckily for me, he changed his mind, and we started seeing each other. We decided to get married and make a happy life for ourselves, although the wedding nearly didn’t happen. Sándor was born a Roman Catholic and the Catholic Church refused to read out the wedding banns. We had to go to the archdeacon the day before the wedding to get him to grant us a special licence. I was in absolute tears.