Diamond couple still in sparkling humour

There was a double surprise for the couple yesterday when they received a bouquet of flowers – ‘the most wonderful bouquet we’ve ever had,’ said Mrs Ogier – along with a card from the Queen congratulating them on their special day.

Mrs Ogier said the bouquet was from the English post office by way of an apology for the card not arriving on their actual anniversary.

As the couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on Tuesday, they looked forward to a special dinner with family at Les Cotils this weekend.

Mick was 18 and Ann (Burrows at the time) was 20 when they first met while out for a Sunday afternoon drive.

‘I was driving my dad’s Morris Six and Ann was in her dad’s Ford Prefect,’ said Mick.

This was at the time before the dual carriageway next to the then States building, when cars could park alongside the Careening Hard wall in Town.

‘My friends got out to chat to people in the other car,’ said Ann.

‘We left and Mick tried to follow us but I lost him.’

But all was not lost, since the two met up again soon afterwards and started dating – or courting as it was known – and they were married a couple of years later.

After starting out working for his grower father, Mick moved to Ronez where he spent the rest of his working life, while Ann had started as a receptionist for the island’s only eye surgeon, Mr Neubert, and then became Guernsey’s first teaching assistant.

After starting out at Valnord School, she moved to Longfield and finally Oakvale.

Son Ian came along first, followed by daughter Suzy, and the couple now have three grandchildren.

Despite the inevitable ‘hiccup’s in any marriage’, they said that laughter was an important part of staying together.

‘It’s got to be a sense of humour,’ said Mick, when asked about the secret to a long marriage. ‘You have to be able to laugh at each other and with each other.’