Diamond couple Doreen and Percy are still going strong (From Daily Echo)

Diamond couple Doreen and Percy are still going strong

2:30pm Thursday 14th March 2013 in News By Rebecca Pearson, Reporter

THIS diamond couple have lots in common, and were even born on the same day.

Now Doreen and Percy Frances are celebrating 60 years of marriage.

The couple, from Regents Park, Southampton, met at a party at the Co-operative’s sports and social club house on Millbrook Road in 1951.

Doreen and Percy, who are both 85, got talking when they realised they shared the same birthday.

They married at St Augustine’s Church, Northam Road in 1953, and the first of their three children was born two years later.

They have spent most of their working lives at Co-op, where Percy worked as a grocer and manager for 47 years before retiring in 1990.

Doreen went back to the Co-op once their children were older, and later served as a magistrate in Southampton for 19 years.

They have spent their whole lives in Southampton, living in Portswood for 42 years before moving to their current home in Regents Park.

Percy said: “The secret to a long and happy marriage is to give and take, share and work together.

“I do the hoovering and Doreen does the dusting. I do the dinners and Doreen does the puddings.

“We have had a good life.”

Now in their retirement, the grandparents of four enjoy going on holidays and have fond memories of travelling in Europe.

They will be celebrating with friends before their three children whisk them off to London for two nights at the Bedford Hotel, where they spent their honeymoon six decades ago.