Golden pair mark special anniversary
50TH MILESTONE FOR COUPLE
More photos:
Wednesday September 01 2010
A FINGAL couple that met in an Irish dance hall in Watford, London, over 50 years ago had cause to celebrate recently as they marked their golden jubilee wedding anniversary.
Whyte's of Stamullen was the venue for the celebrations which took place on August 20th, 50 years to the day of their wedding. Naul man Gussie Downes met his wife Frances Smith, who is originally from Yorkshire, while they both worked in London in the late 1950s. Gussie was working for Vauxhall Motors and later on London's buses while Frances worked in the hotel industry.
After they exchanged wedding vows on August 20, 1960, they spent a further three years in London, raising their first two children.
Gussie returned to Fingal with his wife and family and set up home in Craoibhinn Park in Balbriggan where they raised their five daughters Catherine, Bernadette, Maria, Noreen, Valerie and their son Sean.
Frances's two sisters Connie Attenburg and Diana Shute travelled from England for the celebrations while Gussie's sister Ester Battersby and his brother Jimmy were also in attendance. Some 150 friends and family turned out for the golden couple's celebrations, which, according to Gussie, ' went on till the early hours of the morning.'
' It was a great night and we were delighted with the amount of friends and family who turned up to help us celebrate,' Gussie told the Fingal Independent.
- Nicola DONNELLY
