A devoted couple with a shared love of sailing and the Broads have celebrated their platinum wedding at a place also dear to their hearts.
Paul and Sheila Ashford marked 70 years of marriage with a gathering for family and friends at How Hill.
Sheila, 94, helped save the environmental study centre in the 1980s when it was under threat of closure during her time as a Broadland district councillor. Her working life saw her switch from teaching to public service in a variety of roles and chairmanships.
She and Paul, 97, who have lived at Strumpshaw since moving to Norfolk in 1958 are big fans of How Hill, where they are long standing members of its Friends group – so it was the obvious choice of a venue to mark their marital milestone.
They were wed in 1954 in Sheila’s native Cornwall having met the year before through mutual friends.
“Our first date was on a catamaran Paul had designed and built which we sailed on Plymouth Sound. It was a very wet introduction,” remembered Sheila. But it set the course for a lifelong love of boats which saw them sail around the East Anglia coast, rivers and over to Holland.
Paul whose family were farmers from Aldeby near Beccles, had a career as a civil engineer and hydrologist with the East Suffolk and Norfolk River Board, the forerunner of today’s Anglian Water. His hobbies included designing experimental boats including a pioneering catamaran made from plywood.
After 18 years teaching PE and English at Acle Secondary Modern school Sheila has been heavily involved in church and community life – including 19 years as a magistrate, chairing Strumpshaw Parish Council, and being leader of the district council, where her service also led to helping save How Hill, and 10 years on the UK’s nuclear safety advisory committee, visiting many nuclear power stations. “So many that I ought to glow!” she said.
Her memories of How Hill include being at a visit by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1990 which involved “days of security people checking the dykes beforehand and her arriving by military helicopter.
“She also met marshman Eric Edwards who handed her some reeds and, always one with an eye for publicity, said ‘from one Thatcher to another,’ smiled Sheila.
The couple, who have also been heavily involved in the local church, have two sons, both doctors, and six grandchildren.
Asked for their recipe for long life and marriage Sheila said it was just a matter of “getting on with it.”
They were joined by 38 people for their celebration at How Hill, which they said was “such a wonderful location, so well cared for with stunning views.”
How Hill director Simon Partridge thanked the Ashfords for their years of loyal support to the centre adding “we are flattered they chose us as the venue for their special day marking this momentous marital achievement.”
