How a cup of coffee led to a lifetime together

A LOVING couple who met following their time in the forces have marked a rare platinum wedding anniversary.

John and June Franks, from West Auckland, were introduced in 1947 through mutual friends in a coffee shop in Durham.

Seven decades after tying the knot that same year, the pair are still going strong at 96 and 93-years-old.

Mr Franks was a former prison officer and had returned from his wartime service with the RAF in South Africa when he met his wife-to-be, who also served in the air force.

Mrs Franks said: “I thought he was quite bold – I asked him afterwards how he’d got the courage to ask me out and he said it was now or never.”

The pair married at St Edmunds, in Bearpark, near Durham, and went on to have two children together.

Mrs Franks added: “I told him I wanted to have a big family – he just laughed but he never said no.”

Mr Franks was a policeman in Barnard Castle for two-and-a-half years after leaving the prison service. He then joined the CID side of the force.

Meanwhile, Mrs Franks became a drama teacher in Darlington at The Immaculate Conception Grammar School and Polam Hall.

Friends at the West Auckland Vineyard Church organised a surprise party for the couple last Wednesday after the Queen’s own platinum anniversary sparked the idea.

Mrs Franks added: “We met quite a lot of these people before we came here – we’ve always been committed Christians.”

Mr Franks trained as a teacher later in life but the loss of his hearing put paid to the career shift and led to him retraining as a technician at Durham University, where he worked for ten years.

The pair have been retired for more than 30 years and have four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

When it came to the secret of a long marriage, Mrs Franks revealed it was getting along which truly counted.

“I can count on one hand the number of times John has lost his temper,” said Mrs Franks.

Mr Franks added: “You have got to have a certain amount of patience.”