Diamond couple share love of dancing

Diamond wedding couple Joan and Robin Buck from Earsham. PHOTO: Nick Butcher (Image: ©archant2016)

Robin and Joan Buck of Earsham, met at the age of 15 on Bungay Common in 1951 while attending the annual May Fair with friends.

They have been together ever since and got married at St Mary’s Church in Ditchingham on June 2, 1956.

They had their wedding reception at Ditchingham village hall and moved into their first home together in a cottage in Ditchingham.

Over the years they moved to several different houses, but have always stayed in Earsham, living in the village for 56 years.

Mr Buck, now 80, started work when he left school as an agricultural engineer in Bungay, before working on a farm in Ditchingham and then Earsham. He ended his career working as a welder for 35 years at companies in Harleston and Eye, before retiring in 2001.

Mrs Buck, also 80, worked at a toy shop in Bungay and after the wedding she helped out on the farm and raised their two daughters Angela and Sally. The couple also have six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Their love of country and western dancing started in the early 1980s and the couple went on a dancing holiday every year for around 15 years. They danced at the Apollo Club in Harleston every week, and even after giving up their hobby a couple of years ago, they still attend a group once a month to socialise.

“We loved it,” said Mrs Buck. “And we had all the gear. Robin had the hats and boots and I had the skirts.”

The couple marked 60 years of marriage on June 2, and celebrated the milestone last Saturday with a party at Earsham Village Hall. Instead of presents, they asked for donations to All Hallows Daycare Centre in Ditchingham, where their daughter Sally works.

When asked the secret to their long marriage, Mr Buck said: “Everyone has different opinions and arguments but we have never argued over money and we share everything we have got. Whatever we have is ours.”