Dance school encounter leads to 60 years of marriage for diamond Kettering couple

A Kettering couple who first clapped eyes on each other at a ballroom dancing lesson are celebrating 60 years of marriage.

David and Chris Capps, now 81, were teenagers when they took part in classes at the town’s Peggy Hales school of dancing.

The person who ran the lesson would pick out people sitting at the side to dance with a partner, which brought the pair together, although Chris had seen her future husband before and always thought he ‘looked nice’.

They wed on March 7, 1964, after a few years of courting and 60 years on they’ve marked their diamond wedding anniversary.

Chris said: “We are pretty proud of achieving it.”

After they first met the pair carried on dancing for a while, with Chris taking exams and getting as far as her silver medal, before they both gave it up because it cost five shillings per lesson.

They married aged 21 at the Rockingham Road Methodist Church with 70 guests joining them for their romantic day.

Chris said: “It snowed, it rained and we had a bit of sunshine!”

David added: “All the elements, just like a successful marriage.”

The keen historians didn’t go on a honeymoon to save money and bought a little terraced house in Rosebery Street.

They lived in Kettering for many years before moving to East Carlton and then to Rothwell, where they have resided for about eight years.

Chris worked in accounts at William Timpson’s in Bath Road for about seven years before stopping work when they had their twin girls Stephanie and Susan.

David held a number of jobs, including at the Lipton’s grocery shop in Gold Street and on the railway in Kettering, before later becoming a teacher at Millbrook Junior School where he worked for 24 years.

They have spent a lot of time travelling, including a four-month round-the-world cruise just before the Covid pandemic with highlights including Singapore, Vietnam and Japan, as well as spending three months with daughter Susan in New Zealand.

As well as their daughters they have five grandchildren – Sarah, Ashley, Lucy, Matthew and Daniel.

The diamond couple celebrated their anniversary with a family meal and then a gathering, as well as receiving an official Buckingham Palace anniversary greetings card from the King which came as a surprise to them.

And their secret to a long marriage?

David said: “I think co-operation, respect and admiration, and agreeing to disagree without having a big fuss about it.”

Chris added: “Give and take – I wouldn’t have married anyone else.”