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Keeping a sense of fun and enjoying life are key to a long and happy marriage, according to Alan and June Dalton – and they should know better than most. They have just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
“It’s having a sense of humour, even just between the two of you,” June says. “And we can say what we like to each other – we don’t row. We both enjoy life and that’s the main thing. We’re both on the same channel.”
The couple have lived in Warkworth for 12 years, after retiring here from the UK to live closer to their son, Richard, who owns three independent cinemas in Auckland and Hamilton.
Before that, they both worked until they were 70, Alan as a technician at the University of London and June with Kuoni, a global travel company.
“I kept working, then when I was 70, my professor at the university said ‘Alan, it’s about time you retired and spent more time with that lovely wife of yours’,” he says.
They had already visited New Zealand three times on holiday, so when June retired from her job a few years later, they decided to make a permanent move south in 2006.
Having lived in the same Surrey village for most of their married life, it was quite a wrench for them to up sticks and move to the other side of the world, but June says they liked Warkworth immediately and love living here.
“The neighbours here are marvellous, everybody here is so lovely,” she says.
Their Diamond Anniversary celebrations included visits from friends and family from all over the world and several social gatherings.
