Couple married for 80 years still in love

‘Never go to bed on a quarrel’ is the advice given to young couples from a pair of Matlock lovebirds who have been married for 80 years.

Wilfred ‘Monty’ Turberville, 105, passed the milestone with his wife Ivy, 101 – making them one of the oldest couples in the country.

The pair, who now live together at Valley Lodge Care Home, in Bakewell Road, Matlock, met when they were teenagers in Holloway.

“I was 15 when I first met him,” Ivy said.

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“My two brothers were motorcyclists and so was Monty. We came to know each other through that.

“I rode with him on his motorcycle from Matlock to Holloway and we have been together ever since then.

“I suppose it was love at first sight really.”

Monty grew up in Flash Dam, near Two Dales, while Ivy lived near Riber Castle, Matlock.

He worked as a lorry driver and she worked at Lea Mills.

The couple married at Holloway Church in September 1933, when Ivy was 21 and Monty was 25.

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They honeymooned in Mablethorpe, near Skegness, for one week.

“I suppose it’s unusual to be married as long as we have been,” Ivy said.

She added: “We keep getting on well together. We agree well.”

During the Second World War, Ivy worked at Johnson’s Mill packing, while Monty worked as a lorry driver for the same firm.

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After the war, the couple, who never had children, moved from Two Dales to Portland Grange where they ran a farm.

They then built a bungalow on their farm and called it The Spinney – where they lived until Monty was 100.

Ivy said she didn’t know what it was that had made her and Monty, who turns 106 in January, live such long and healthy lives.

“I think we have always kept busy,” she said.

The couple celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary at Valley Lodge Care Home surrounded by family and friends.

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Janet Ellison, activities coodinator for the care home, helped organise their wedding anniversary celebration and said she had never come across another couple who had been together as long as Ivy and Monty have.

“We have never carried a quarrel on,” Ivy said.

“If we quarrelled one night it was done with the next morning.”

“We never sulked.”

They symbol for 80 years of marriage is oak.

The oldest couple on the country are Karam and Kartari Chand, who live in Bradford.

The pair met 87 years ago on the day of their marriage in Punjab, India. They moved to England in 1965.

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