Mansfield couple 'destined to meet' celebrate platinum wedding anniversary

Colin and Noreen Barnes feel like their marriage was fate.

Colin’s grandmother, Marion Barnes, was the midwife who delivered both babies 90 years ago, just 100 yards apart at their respective family homes in Nottingham.

They eventually met at the tender age of 15, at the local YMCA youth club.

Colin remembers fondly: “We were destined to meet, we were almost neighbours.

“Noreen sold sandwiches behind the counter at the youth club. I knew she liked me, as she used to save me beans on toast”.

They married five years later at Wollaton Church in Nottingham on April 4 1950.

Colin and Noreen, who now live in Rainworth, both turned 90 on March 18 and February 8 respectively, and they were due to celebrate with an anniversary party for friends and family, until the coronavirus pandemic forced them to postpone.

This will now hopefully be rescheduled for later in the year.

Colin explains the secret to a happy marriage: “We just take each day as it comes really.

“Everyone falls out, but you just get on with it don’t you?”

Noreen ran the household on Colin’s wage of four pounds 19 a week, which he earned as a site agent for a building company.

She recalls: “It was difficult – we used to give his father 3 pounds a week for lodgings so we didn’t have much, but we muddled through.

“We must have been doing something right to get to 70 years.”

Colin was part of many major building projects in Nottinghamshire, including being site manager for King’s Mill outpatients department being built, and a 400-home development on Nottingham Racecourse, before he retired at 67.

The couple have four children, Colin, Tony, Stephen and Jane, they have 10 grandchildren and currently have seven great-grandchildren to add to their growing family.

They now enjoy spending time in the garden, where Noreen has won awards for her fuchsias, and spending time with their family.

They are looking forward to celebrating their platinum wedding anniversary with them all soon.