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Mr. and Mrs. J. S. B. Down return to their native Appledore for celebration party.

19.2.1954 Appledore golden wedding Down

What more appropriate day than Valentine Day could there be for a golden wedding anniversary? – or so think Mr. and Mrs. John Short Bignell Down, who returned to their native Appledore to celebrate this happy anniversary on Sunday.

On Saturday Mr. and Mrs Down, who live at 60, Glenmore Avenue, Stoke Plymouth, were the guests of honour at a celebration party held in the Appledore Hall.

Although Mr. and Mrs. Down have lived at Plymouth since 1911, when Mr. Down entered H.M. Dockyard, they decided to celebrate the anniversary at Appledore.

Relatives came for the party from Plymouth, London and Weston-super-Mare, and altogether nearly 70 were present.

The second son of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. Down, of Appledore, Mr. Down served his seven years’ apprenticeship as a sailmaker with the firm of Messrs. Robert Cocks and Sons. of Appledore. He continued working for the same firm as a journeyman for another six years before he went to Milford Haven, South Wales, with Messrs. G.H. Tudor.

In 1911 he entered H.M. Dockyard at Devonport, Plymouth, and retired in 1946 after 35 years service, interrupted only by a short break spent at Appledore during the recent war, after he and his wife had been bombed out of their home.

Mrs. Down, the second daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. Cook, of Appledore, started work in a collar factory at Appledore when she remained until she was 23. In those days there was no ‘bus service between Bideford and Appledore, and Mrs. Down and her colleagues had to walk to work.

Mr. and Mrs. Down were married at St. Mary’s Church, Appledore, on February 14th, 1904 by the late Rev. H.C.A.S. Muller, then curate. Mr. Down’s wages at the time were 22s. a week.

The recipe for 50 years of happy married life offered by Mr. and Mrs. Down is “Give and take.” Commented Mr. Down: “We have had our ups and downs but we have been very happy.” Mrs. Down added: “We have had nothing to grumble about and I would go through the same fifty years again with the same partner; I have always had him to rely upon.”

Mr. and Mrs. Down have four sons and a daughter. The sons are John, who lives at Appledore; Jim, at Plymouth; William, a chief engine-room artificer in the Navy: and Charlie, a chief shipwright in the Navy. The daughter, Mrs. W. Burford, lives with her parents at Plymouth.

Mr Down has six brothers, two of them living at Appledore, Mrs. Down has three brothers and three sisters.

Gazette article dated 19 February 1954

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