Bristol couple's wartime letters led to happy marriage

A Bristol couple who "courted" via 600 letters during the war have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

At the age of 18, Bristolian Pat Parsons, met Private Geoff Bunyan, a 19-year-old Londoner, in April 1945, when he was on a course at the Army Transfusion Depot in Southmead Hospital.

Six months later, after the war in Europe had ended, Mr Bunyan was drafted to India and then to Japan for two years and two months.

During that time the couple sent 600 letters to each other, which they have kept to this day.

After Mr Bunyan's demobilisation in January 1948, he moved to Bristol where they were married at St John's Church, Clifton, on August 13, 1949.

Later that year they bought a little house in Horfield where, after 60 years, they still live.

Mr Bunyan, 83, and Mrs Bunyan, 82, have three children, Peter, 59, Rosemary, 56, and Nigel, 53, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. After the war, Mr Bunyan worked as a sales manager for an engineering company, and after raising their children, Mrs Bunyan began work as a school secretary for Monks Park School, a position that she held for 28 years.

The couple, of Luckington Road, enjoy music, spending time with their family, and going on holiday together. They have just returned from a Mediterranean cruise on board the Queen Victoria.

Mr Bunyan told the Bristol Evening Post: "Our secret is that we both have a love of laughter. We have both worked hard, and believe in the division of labour, where the man goes out to work to support the children, and the wife looks after the home."

He added: "We have never gone to sleep on a quarrel, and when we were young we had a great sex life, and have been very lucky with children."