John and Angela Peart celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Easter Saturday surrounded by their family.
The couple, who received their card from the King last week, were married at St John the Evangelist Church, Lynesack, on April 4, 1966, and still live nearby at Lane Head 60 years later.
And it was at their home that they were joined by their daughters and all five grandchildren – aged from 27 to 11 – for the anniversary celebrations.
“We had our family here with us, which was lovely,” said Angela, who taught at Butterknowle School for 40 years and was deputy head when she retired in 2003.
John was a building contractor and he built their current home as well as a house and a bungalow in Woodland that the family previously lived in.
But both John, who was raised in Harwood, and Angela, who grew up at West Fold Garth, near Woodland, just a few hundred yards from the couple’s current home, hail from farming backgrounds.
They knew each other from a young age but started courting as teenagers, by which time John was living locally and he also briefly worked for Angela’s father on the farm.
Crucially, John had a car, and he was on hand to take Angela to teacher training college at Ampleforth at the start of the week and bring her home before the weekend. She had started work at Butterknowle School by the time they were married.
The wedding day went off without a hitch, despite the weather.
“It was bitterly cold,” remembered Angela. “I still lived on the farm and they had to plough the track so the taxi could get up it. We had the reception at the Queens Head Hotel, in Bishop Auckland, and we went to London for our honeymoon.”
The couple have two daughters, Victoria, who is an apprenticeship development officer for an educational charity, and Dundee-based GP Charlotte.
“After Charlotte was born, we became avid caravanners,” said Angela. “We caravanned for 50 years constantly travelling all around the country and even abroad.
“And we loved climbing,” she added. “We’ve both done all the Wainwrights and I’ve been up Helvellyn 11 times and the famous Catbells at Keswick 22 times.
“We’d also go abroad and we were obsessed with Cornwall and the Cornish coast and latterly we’ve been obsessed with Scotland.”
A year after Angela’s retirement, the couple joined their close friends Dorothy and Alan Milroy – their bridesmaid and best man respectively – on a round-the-world trip.
Destinations included Hong Kong, Sydney, Auckland, Fiji and Vancouver during an unforgettable six weeks.
Angela believes that spirit of adventure has been a key factor in their long and happy marriage.
She said: “I’m an independent soul and John’s pretty independent in his way as well.”
