Couple’s enduring love began at a dance

Joan and Ernest Scarsbrook

IT was love at second sight for Ernest and Joan Scarsbrook.

The pair met as children when they were both pupils at St Joseph’s School in Shaw.

But it was 10 years later — when the pair were reunited at a Hill Stores dance — that they fell in love.

Today, the lovebirds, of Sherwood Way, High Crompton, celebrate their Blue Sapphire anniversary — that’s 65 years of marriage.

Ernest, who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, said: “I can vividly remember seeing Joan in the school playground so when we met again at the dance it was love at second sight and we got married at St Joseph’s Church soon after.

“The weather was beautiful, there was no snow like we’re getting this week. Straight after the wedding, we got the bus to Manchester and had our honeymoon at a friends digs in Morecambe.”

Ernest, a former engineer, and Joan, who used to work at Osram Mill in Shaw, have two sons, Stephen and Graham, four grandchildren, Kay, Peter, Lisa and Jane, and two great-grandchildren, Kamran and Sara.

Joan said: “We have a wonderful family who really do look after us, we are so lucky.

“There is no secret to our long-lasting marriage, we just love each other very much and that has kept us happy and contented over the years.”