Doreen Fulwell was Doreen Bougourd when as a child she lived near Petit Bot.
She was living in London and studying at evening classes when she met Peter Fulwell ‘over coffee and biscuits during the recess,’ he recalled.
‘She was a very, very attractive woman and we struck up a conversation.
‘She said she came from Guernsey. It was all very glamorous and exciting.’
The pair quickly fell in love and married in the summer of 1956 at Les Camps Methodist church.
They returned to the UK for the first few years of their married life.
Doreen worked as a district nurse and Peter was an accountant. But in the late fifties, they found themselves making the move back to Guernsey.
‘Doreen’s mother was unwell and her sister was living in England and couldn’t move back. So, we decided to go,’ said Mr Fulwell.
They spent the next two decades in the island, raising their four children.
‘We absolutely loved it and the children loved it too,’ he said.
But in 1982 the family found themselves moving almost 4,000 miles away from the island to the United States with Mr Fulwell’s work.
Although sad to leave Guernsey, the couple enjoyed their time in the US.
‘We had a lovely little place with a little garden,’ he said.
‘Doreen planted a whole row of rose bushes there, which got featured in the local paper.’
The blooms were not Mrs Fulwell’s only reason for making it in the news.
She was also later credited with introducing the ‘Guernsey fete’ to the local area, and for speaking on numerous occasions about her experiences of the island’s Occupation in the 40s and her evacuation to Yorkshire.
In 2021 the Fullwells crossed the Atlantic once more and finally returned to the Bailiwick.
‘We were getting older and needed to move,’ Mr Fulwell explained.
They planned to move closer to one of their four children, and with their daughter, Lois, being based in Alderney, the decision was made easier.
‘We loved Guernsey so much. And it only felt right that Doreen got to live out the rest of her years back in the islands.’
The couple said they could not quite believe how much time had passed and that they were now celebrating their platinum anniversary.
They marked the occasion alongside friends and family with a party at the Braye Beach Hotel, where they also received a congratulatory message from the King and Queen.
They plan to hang it next to the congratulations they received from the late Queen Elizabeth II for their diamond anniversary.
You need to be logged in to comment.