Bill and Doll are a real diamond couple!

Mar 22 2008 by Gareth Rogers, South Wales Echo

Bill and Doll are a real diamond couple!

HAPPY couple Bill and Doll Collins are set to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary next week.

Thursday, March 27, will see the pair of 88 year olds, from Abertridwr, Caerphilly, celebrate 60 years together after they shared a double-wedding at nearby Eglwysilan Church with Doll’s sister Florence and her husband Ray.

The pair met shortly before World War II while they were both working at the Simmonds factory in Treforest, near Pontypridd.

When war broke out, Bill was sent to fight as a Desert Rat in North Africa, serving in Sudan and Eritrea, while his wife-to-be carried on working at the factory which produced ammunition.

But Doll says it wasn’t love at first sight, saying she wasn’t at all sure of Bill when he first asked her out because he didn’t like to dance but she loved it.

However, she gave Bill a chance and the couple courted for several years before marrying at the small hilltop church on March 27, 1948.

Soon after getting married, the couple had their first child, and only son, Robert, 59, who was followed by his two younger sisters Lynne and Anne.

Bill started working as an engineer in nearby Taffs Well before training to be plumber, a trade that Robert was to follow him into. Doll spent her time bringing up the three children at home in Abertridwr and Bill had to retire age 65 because he was suffering with arthritis.

Plumbing and central heating repairer Robert said: “I can always remember my parents being very happy together.

“I wasn’t born when my dad was in the war but I am very proud of that and I am really pleased that they have stayed together this long.It’s rare to have two 88 year olds still alive together.”

gareth.rogers@mediawales.co.uk