Newark couple are 60 years wed despite a cut-short honeymoon

A couple who met when they were asked to make up a four at Newark Young Conservatives will celebrate 60 years of married life together on Saturday.

Chris Rawson and Shirley Eastgate continued to meet while Chris was doing his National Service in the Royal Military Police and Shirley was at teacher training college in Leicester.

Chris proposed during a woodwork evening class course and they married on April 3, 1961, at the now demolished Holy Trinity Church in Parliament Street, Newark.

They drove to Wales for their honeymoon but hadn’t booked a hotel as they knew that their friends ­— who had already put chickens in their new car ­— would arrange a prank for when they got there.

Chris and Shirley hadn’t realised that there was an Eisteddford in Llangothlen so were unable to find a hotel with a vacancy.

Eventually they found a room in a hamlet called Corwen, but it was too late for dinner so they had to manage with a beef sandwich and a cup of tea.

After days of rain, snow, hail and floods they abandoned their honeymoon and returned home early, resulting in their parents thinking that they had fallen out.

Chris and Shirley, of Newark, have three children and seven grandchildren.

Chris was company secretary at Mumby & Son Ltd clothing firm when it closed, then administration manager at Newark Timber. When he left there, he became a day care officer at Brooke Farm in Linby, an employment and training centre for adults with learning disabilities.

Shirley was a domestic science teacher at Tuxford School until she left to have children.

She then became home economics and needlework teacher at Cardinal Hinsley School, Newark, until it closed and she moved to Holy Trinity School until her retirement.

They both enjoy gardening, spending time with their family, and holidaying at the coast.