A WELSH-born couple returned to their homeland to celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary at Narberth.

Lou and Gloria Lewis were born 95 miles apart in South Wales: Lou in Kilgetty Pembrokeshire and Gloria in Cardiff. They met much later in Portsmouth while Lou was a serving member of the Royal Navy.

Lou remembers: “Our early dates consisted of meeting at Naval dances but they soon developed into the best of courtships. We became engaged within a year and shortly afterwards I was drafted to a ship in the Far East. I returned for our wedding (totally organised by my wife to be) and after a very short honeymoon I sailed off again.”

Lou and Gloria were married in Holy Trinity Church in Fareham Hampshire on September 18, 1965.

“Some might say, a reason for our long marriage is that we only spoke to each other through our love letters for the first year,” adds Lou. “Our memories of those early days were brought back by a message of congratulations sent by the commanding officer of HMS Collingwood, where our life together started out.”

They held the celebration lunch with 40 family members from all over South Pembrokeshire and England  in ‘Copses’, a private venue at the foot of Narberth hill.

Gloria said: “A diamond represents quite accurately the many facets of our relationship. We have always given each other the space to follow our dreams. I decided when I was 58 years old that I wanted to go to University. Lou supported me through my four years of study which gave me a degree in Three Dimensional Art. More recently, Lou has been writing several collections of short stories based on his early days in Pembrokeshire. He published his first book when he was 82 years old and is currently completing his trilogy.

The couple’s best achievement they would say is having two daughters, Angela and Gaynor, who in complete secrecy, arranged the entire celebration in Narberth leading to Lou and Gloria’s return to Wales.

They have every intention of “getting on with things.” Lou is already planning the marketing approach for his books in 2026 and Gloria is completing a number of quilting projects which are now calling out to see the light of day.

The ‘Station Road Sewing Circle’ series is available from the Tenby Bookshop.