Diamond pair to celebrate milestone anniversary with Queen (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)

Diamond pair to celebrate milestone anniversary with Queen

8:30am Wednesday 11th July 2012 in News

A FORMER editor of the Bromsgrove Advertiser and his wife will be celebrating their diamond wedding with family, friends and the Queen this week.

Lionel and Joan Wheat, of Keats Avenue in Worcester, will be among a select group from the local community enjoying a special celebration of the Diamond Jubilee in Worcester Cathedral today, (July 11), in the presence of the Queen.

Tomorrow, they will reach 60 years of marriage, and plan to celebrate with relatives and friends this Saturday.

The couple tied the knot in Wimblington Methodist Church on July 12, 1952. The church has played a prominent role in their lives as they met in a village chapel in Cambridgeshire, when they were 16, and they are still actively involved at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Worcester.

Mrs Wheat, 81, believes getting on well and not having a cross word with each other could be the secret behind their long-lasting union.

“We have never argued as such, we have differences but we always go to bed happy,” she said.

Mr Wheat, 82, was the editor of the Bromsgrove Messenger between 1972-9, before returning to the Berrow's Worcester Journal to become its editor. He retired in 1991.

Mr Wheat says he saw many changes during his time in the industry, including the move to using computers.

The couple, who lived in Bromsgrove for nearly 20 years, have three children, Christine, a headteacher from Worcester, Nigel, who works in computing in Portishead, and Emma, who works in insurance in London. The pair also have seven grandchildren.