Couple celebrates their platinum wedding

A simple invitation to dance has grown into seven decades of marriage and togetherness for a former Cheviot couple, Bruce and Rosemary Childs.

Early one morning in 1948, 20-year-old Rosemary Thacker embarked on a journey that would change her life forever.

Invited to a birthday party, she traveled the 180 km from her family home in Okains Bay to Cheviot.

“It was a very long day on the buses, on unpaved roads, but it was all worth it,” she says.

At the party, 19-year-old Cheviot farmhand Bruce Childs asked her to dance.

“She was sweet, and we danced all night long, I didn’t want to let her go,” he said.

For the next four years, the young couple maintained a long-distance courtship through letters and a single encounter.

Bruce continued to work in the Hurunui district and says that for some jobs he would only get a post every two to three weeks, but her letters were worth the wait.

“When I had earned enough, I bought an old Morris 8 two-door car and drove for hours to her parents’ house to see her,” Bruce said.

On Saturday, October 18, 1952, the blushing bride wore a beautiful pale blue wedding dress down the aisle of St Johns Church in Okains Bay.

“I’ve never tried on white and although it shocked some of the 150 guests, my parents thought it was fine and I loved it,” Rosemary said.

More than 70 of Bruce’s family made the long trip to Okains Bay and everyone enjoyed the marquee party at the Thacker family farm, Rowandale.

The Akaroa News later devoted three columns to detailing the wedding, down to what the mothers-in-law were wearing.

Bruce and Rosemary returned to the Childs farm, Fernhill, near Cheviot, where his grandfather had voted after World War I.

Rosemary said she didn’t know anyone, so she quickly joined the Country Women’s Institute in Domett and took an active role in the local Anglican church.

The couple leased the 1,200-acre sheep farm in 1958 and finally bought it in the early 1960s.

“We built our first home in 1965 by digging into the top of a hill because there was no other flat land on the property between Gore Bay and the Hurunui River,” Rosemary said.

There, the couple raised their three children before retiring to residences in the Cheviot and Geraldine area before finally entering a rest home in Ilam Christchurch.

But their story didn’t end there.

Bruce and Rosemary attribute the longevity of their union to a strong faith and belief.

Both were very active members of their local church.

While Rosemary worked with young mothers and wives, Bruce was a lay reader before the parish chose him to become the Anglican pastor in Cheviot. “I turned my flock of Corriedales into humans and had a great time,” he says.

A role he enjoyed playing for 15 years.

“It was funny, most ministers were thinking about retiring when I was just starting out,” he said.

Giving time and respect are just two of the reasons Rosemary believes they’ve lasted 70 years.

“It’s all about tolerance and belief. Everyone is different and you have to learn to be tolerant of each other,” she said.

Now in their 90s and thanks to a few falls, the couple live 60 yards apart in a retirement home.

Every day Rosemary gets up and walks down the hall to Bruce’s room and welcomes him with a kiss on the check.

They spend their days together watching TV or doing crafts. The couple plans to return to the newly renovated St Johns Church in Okains Bay with family and friends on October 18.