Diamonds are forever for loving Maltby couple

Audrey and Denis Graveling, who live at Haslam Place in Maltby, have marked their 60 years together with a family meal and received a special congratulations card from the King to mark their big event.

Audrey (79) and Denis (84) first came together through their involvement with the Salvation Army. She was in the Maltby Salvation Army Corps and Denis was in the Boyne, County Durham Corps.

Audrey, whose maiden name was Ellison, said they met when Denis visited the Maltby area with the Salvation Army.

“Our courtship was really letters because we didn’t have a telephone in the house then,” recalled Audrey.

“Denis would come down here for a weekend one month and I would go up there the month after.”

Their engagement lasted for two-and-a-half years before they finally got to tie the knot at Maltby Parish Church.

The couple spent their honeymoon on Holy Island, off the Northumberland coast.

The couple then went to live in County Durham but when the pit that Denis worked at closed they returned to Maltby after four years where he again took up employment in the mining industry.

“We lived with my mum and dad for a year before we got our own home,” said Audrey.

So what is the secret which has kept the parents-of-two and grandparents-of-three together successfully for so long? “Just take a day at a time,” said Audrey.