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An Andover couple have spoken about their life together as they celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary.

John and Wendy Hatchett first met in the late 1950s, when John says he and other “nice young lads went touring round the villages looking for young ladies.”

He started dating a girl in Cheriton, but admits that they weren’t getting on well. However, when visiting her one day, he happened to meet Wendy, a local nanny who was also visiting.

“We got chatting,” said John, “and I said I’d walk her home. It went from there.”

After going out together for a few years, they eventually married six decades ago, though their big day in Locks Heath didn’t get off to the most auspicious of starts.

“It poured down with rain on our wedding day,” said John, with Wendy interjecting: “Poured down is a polite way of putting it!”

Once they were married, it was off to Goodworth Clatford, where John took a job on a local farm, and remembers working with cattle where the golf course is now located. “I loved my time on the farm,” he said, “it’s a good life.” He’d been working as a student at farms since he was 11.

Here, they raised five children together: Timothy, Mary, Susan, Nigel and Ann, all on wages of £10 a week. “That went a long way back then,” said Wendy. “Now, that’ll only cover a taxi for two miles!”

To make the money go further, John used his green thumb to grow vegetables for the family. “I used to love my garden,” he said, “and it made the pennies go a bit further.”

As well as raising their human family, they also had a large family of birds to look after, with over 200 at their height.

“We had caged birds for 40 years, and had a garden with 11 aviaries. We had budgerigars, parakeets, cockatoos, lovebirds, red-rumps, quails and chickens. I don’t know how we managed it, but we had great time, travelling all over Hampshire showing them.”

John was also involved in the 4th Andover Scout pack, which he worked at as a leader from 1965 to 1990. He was the assistant district commissioner for some of those years, and during his time, he says they were the first children’s group to perform at Cricklade Theatre, back before it became The Lights.

Unfortunately, in 2000 John had a heart attack, and had to stop working on the farm. The family moved to Abbotts Ann, forcing them to give up most of their birds, and then to Andover, where they live today.

For a while, John and his daughter Mary ran a business, Mary's Needlecraft, near to where Domino's is today. Unfortunately, they were forced to close after a couple of years when the rents were put up.

Looking back on their lives, now with 12 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, John and Wendy are content with their achievements.

“Our lives have been very full, I must admit, and very happy,” said John. “I never thought I’d see the day, as I didn’t think I’d live that long for a start!”

“When we got married, they said we wouldn’t last, but I think we’ve overcome it just a bit!”

Both John and Wendy agree that a lot of love and respect are crucial for a long marriage, with Wendy adding that “patience and give and take” are important, as well as never going to bed on an argument.

From all of us at the Advertiser, here’s to many more years of happiness for John and Wendy.