Higham Ferrers diamond wedding couple still dancing after all these years

A woman who is celebrating a marriage milestone says she knew her future husband was the one after he offered to walk her home when they met at a rock and roll dance at Rushden Band Club.

Mick Barker had just returned from two years of National Service when he bumped into future wife Mavis at the dance and it was love at first sight.

They immediately started dating and spent the next evening at the pictures. Now more than 60 years later the pair, who live in Higham Ferrers, have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

The couple still share a love of dancing and still strut their stuff at line dancing evenings. Mick, 83, says this is the secret to their successful relationship.

He said: “It’s sharing what we do and we always talk things over – and being good to each other.

Mavis, 79, thinks having their own interests as well as sharing their love of dance has kept them strong.

She said: “We always talk through what we are going to do together, but we are not tied to each other.”

Keen angler Mick enjoys his own time coarse fishing while Mavis is a member of various Higham social clubs.

Mick and Mavis married at the Wesleyan Chapel in Rushden High Street on May 12, 1962.

Both worked in the shoe trade, Mick at Ashford & Campion heel manufacturers and Mavis at Caves, then Tarrys – finishing her career as a skiver and stitchmaker at Sanders.

After daughters Sharon and Rachel were born in 1963 and 1964 respectively, the family enjoyed trips to European holiday hotspots with Greece a favourite destination.

Now they combine their love of holidays with their passion for dancing at weekends away on the coast for line dancing trips.

Mavis said: “We have danced all our lives. It keeps us healthy and it’s really good socially.”

The couple are to celebrate their 60 years with their daughters, grandchildren Laura, Joe, Nathan and Becky and great-grandchildren Ella, 13, Munroe, five, Lola, 14, and Regan, 10.

Mavis added: “I’m glad to be married. He’s been a good husband and we have been happy.”