Bob and Dorothy Jarvis celebrate Diamond Wedding anniversary in Benidorm

BENIDORM residents Bob and Dorothy Jarvis have reached a landmark not many of us will ever achieve, and celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary together at the Ciudad Patricia in Benidorm surrounded by friends and family. Their invitations said it all: “True love is like a diamond, it is rare, beautiful and lasts forever,” with a note reading: “Your presence is requested but please no presents, we have everything.”

As long-time friends and clients of Euro Weekly News, some of the staff attended the celebration and it was described as a thoroughly enjoyable and fun evening. In particular reference was made to Bob’s amusing speech, which highlighted the couple’s life together and how they actually met.

The couple first met at a general get-together organised by their church group in Ealing, UK. An event referred to as a ‘squash’ back then, Bob recalled that one of the first encounters with his wife of 60 years was her asking for the subs. Upon noticing her cold hands he coyly asked if she had anyone who warmed them up for her! After that first meeting they got to know each other and shortly discovered that they took the same Tube train to work each day, since both of them were working in the centre of London. At this time Bob was just 16-and-a-half-years-old, while Dorothy was a year-and-a-half his senior, but the couple very quickly became known as the lovers, or Romeo and Juliet by regular folk using the Underground every day. The couple were already inseparable.

However, when Bob turned 18 he was conscripted for National Service and spent two years away from his beloved Dorothy. Towards the end of his service while on home leave Bob accompanied Dorothy on a church group day trip to Hastings and it was there, in his typical romantic fashion, that he asked her: “Shall we get married now or wait until I get demobbed?” Dorothy agreed and they were married on September 10, 1955, according to Bob because it also happened to be the middle of the tax year!

For their honeymoon they took a cruise to the Isle of Wight, where it rained all week! Shortly afterwards they rented a couple of rooms for £3 a week, which accounted to nearly half of their income back then, and very quickly discovered that Dorothy was pregnant. So they moved in with Dorothy’s parents to save money in order to buy their own house, and their daughter was born some 10 months later. The couple managed to secure a mortgage and bought their first house for £2,300 while Bob started work for a camera and optical repair company, earning the princely sum of £12 pounds per week. He eventually moved up the ladder, working as a service and technical manager for a camera importer in London. Bob said: “By then I was earning £1,000 a year; we had arrived!”

A number of years later the couple had a son. The years moved on and Bob continuously worked within the industry, finally owning and managing his own company along with his son, which he later sold on to the photo giants Jessops.