A COUPLE whose wedding night was marred by bombs of the Blitz celebrate their 75 years together this year.

Pearl and Les Gregory married at South Baddesley Church on 23rd November 1940.

The couple had a small tea party at Les’ parents’ house, with a chocolate sponge wedding cake, and when they’d said goodbye to their guests Pearl went upstairs to take her dress off.

“The sirens went and that’s when we knew we had to get going,” she remembers.

They walked one hundred yards to the farmer’s cottage at Stonehill they were renting.

“When we got there every window in the cottage was broken. We were frightened to death.

“Three bombs dropped as well as a big landmine and the blast from that came across the fields.

“There was a man using the outside toilet and it blew him out, but he wasn’t at all hurt,” she said.

The couple met at the Lyric Cinema in Lymington, and went on to live at Holmeleigh thatched cottage in Bull Hill, Boldre for 59 years.

Les worked for his uncle Jim Gregory, a haulage contractor who used shire horses to haul carts and ploughs for forestry and council work. He then went on to work for the Bournemouth Gas Co., West Hants Water Co., Rashleys the Lymington builders and latterly for 19 years with the Showering family, with duties ranging from tractor driving to organising pheasant shoots.

A thatcher’s daughter, Pearl was named after her grandfather’s employer Mrs Pearl Pleydell-Bouverie, Lord Montagu’s mother at Palace House where her grandfather was head gardener.

She worked for the Windebank family at a mansion in Highcliffe, getting up at 6am to scrub the porch and polish the brass before preparing the 8am breakfast.

As she was only 14 she was ordered back to school to finish her education before rejoining the Windebanks.

She then worked as parlourmaid to Dr Hodgkinson at Highfield, Lymington, then to Dr Martin at Brockenhurst, then to Admiral and Lady Eurwick at Nethermoor, Brockenhurst.

The pair ran a small Caravan Club site at Holmeleigh, making life-long friends with visitors from around the country who still keep in touch.

They had four girls, but lost Marion at age seven from measles, and Angela at age 20 from cancer.

As a result they have been constant supporters of cancer charities throughout their married life, and in particular Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington.

When Les’ mobility got worse he went into care at Little Haven residential home in Dibden Purlieu.

Pearl was looked after by her daughter Beryl Menzies who lives in Lee on Solent for a short time but daughter Lesley Boyt of Pilley said: “Mum’s heart was always in the forest so they were reunited here at Little Haven.”

The couple live on the same corridor, and Pearl goes to see Les most days on her mobility scooter.

And the secret to a long and happy marriage? According to Pearl it’s a lot of give and take; the good times always outweigh the bad.

Les is now bedridden but Pearl keeps herself busy by knitting – for her great grandson’s teddy bear, for the care home staff’s children, and for premature babies at St Anne’s Hospital .

Daughters Lesley Boyt and Beryl Menzies are married with two children each, and the Gregorys have two great-grandsons, Jake, 6 and Luke, 10.