Dorchester couple celebrate 60th anniversary on Valentine's Day (From Dorset Echo)

Dorchester couple celebrate 60th anniversary on Valentine's Day

10:30am Thursday 14th February 2013 in News By Samantha Harman

VALENTINE’S Day is twice as lovely for one Dorchester couple – it’s also their 60th anniversary today.

James and Phyllis Curran were married on 14 February 1953 at Affpuddle.

But although the traditional colour of Valentine’s Day is red, the wedding was definitely white, as snow fell on the newlyweds.

Mr Curran, who was serving in the army and living at Bovington Camp at the time, needed the help of his friends to get his car through the snow at Clouds Hill and to the church on time.

And the groom suffered a bleeding nose when one confetti-thrower accidentally hit him in the face.

But the calamities turned out to be a good omen as five children, thirteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren later, the couple are as in love as ever.

Mr Curran, who turns 82 this month, said: “I have been quite ill and at one point I was in hospital for 12 months and have had seven operations.

“My wife got me through. Without her, I wouldn’t be here. She came to visit me every single day.”

The couple met at a dance at Moreton Village Hall and courted for around a year before tying the knot.

Mr Curran, who is originally from Liverpool, said: “I walked through the door and looked down the hall and there was a lady in a red velvet dress and she looked lovely.

“So I went over and asked her for a dance and that was the start of the best 60 years of my life.”

The couple had actually met a few days before, when Mrs Curran was going to Wool train station with a friend and Mr Curran was on duty.

Sadly, Mr and Mrs Curran unexpectedly lost their son, David, aged 52, three years ago.

“That broke our hearts,” said Mr Curran. “But there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about him.”

David’s photo sits alongside many photos of happy family memories in the couple’s Cedar Road home.

They put their long marriage down to a ‘laugh a day’, but Mr Curran also added it helped to ‘do as you’re told’ by your wife.

They know they are being taken out by their family for an anniversary celebration on Saturday but all other details are being kept as a surprise.

Mrs Curran, aged 80, said: “For our Golden anniversary they told us we were going for a meal but all the family was there, it was lovely.”

She added that there are two dates that never slip her husband’s mind – her birthday and their anniversary.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, so it’s quite a memorable date he can’t forget,” she said.

And, said Mr Curran, he always remembers to get her a card.