‘70 years of marriage? Loving each other is key’

The couple were expecting family and friends to drop in and see them at their home during the day and had enjoyed a family Platinum Wedding celebration at Les Rocquettes Hotel on Saturday night.

They were married at the Castel Church on Thursday 22 July 1954, and for the last 50 years have lived not far from the church, on Rectory Hill.

But the first 15 years of their marriage saw them living in a small cottage with just two rooms at Kings Mills with no bathroom or toilet.

As the family grew to five, they were able to move to a slightly bigger home which at least had an extra room but still no running water.

Despite the hardship, Mr Corbin said the family coped.

‘We appreciated what we had at Kings Mills,’ he said.

Mr Corbin worked at Queue Manor Vinery and then was a handyman at Duchess of Kent House for 17 years, while his wife kept the house.

‘We had to work hard,’ said Mrs Corbin.

‘When I could get a bit of work, I would go. As long as you could feed your children, that’s all you worried about.’

They had met when Mr Corbin used to visit his wife’s family home to play cards with her brother. Mr Corbin said he was attracted to her from the start.

He went on holiday to Blackpool in 1953 and sent Mrs Corbin a card which included the words ‘sent with a loving kiss’. They were married nine months later.

The couple went on to have five sons – John, Gary, Keith, Ian and Christopher – all of whom still live in Guernsey and have 10 children between them.

Although they don’t have daughters, Mrs Corbin said her daughters-in-law were just like her own.

So what is the secret to a long marriage? ‘You have to take the bad with the good,’ she said.

‘You’ve got to put up with a lot, both of you. You have to give and take if you have an argument sometimes.’

‘We really love each other as well,’ added her husband.