Bob and Lynda Ritchie celebrate 60 years of wedded bliss

SURROUNDED by family and a whole lot of love, Bob and Lynda Ritchie celebrated 60 years of marriage at Sails Resort on Saturday 27 November.

With not a dry eye in sight, they took their loved ones on a trip down memory lane to mark the special occasion.

“We showed the film of our wedding taken in 1965,” Bob told News Of The Area.

“Some of the family were there back then and some tears were visible, both in the film and there at Sails.”

Their love story comes straight out of a fairytale: challenged by distance, before a life of adventure, with sprinklings of magic and humour.

Born in England, Bob and his parents emigrated from Liverpool to Australia in 1959 when he was just 17-years-old.

Although living 340km apart, 16-year-old Lynda wasn’t far behind, leaving London for the shores of NSW in 1960.

“We would never have met had we stayed there,” said Bob.

But fate had other ideas.

Thanks to Lynda’s sister-in-law living in the same block of units as Bob’s Aunt, a swift decision to play matchmaker engineered a meeting between the two.

The rest, as Bob says, is history.

“We were married on 27 November 1965 at St Andrews Cathedral in Sydney, by the Dean of Sydney Bishop Hulme-Moir.

“Lynda became a Child Care Worker in the creche at Royal North Shore Hospital, while I became a filmmaker.”

Living in Wollstonecraft in Sydney for 50 years, Bob and Lynda’s life was enriched with the birth of their two children and later down the track, three grandchildren.

The couple made the decision to move to Port Macquarie 10 years ago.

With so much advice floating around the internet sprucing the recipe to a long and happy marriage, Bob insists the ingredients are a lot closer to home.

“Our approach to a long marriage and long life is to have a sense of humour; keep the laughter going”, he said.

“[Also] shut up and do as she says, don’t drink Coke, reduce exposure to the sun, and take lots of vitamins.”

By Rikki WALLER