65-year marriage born amid WWII rubble (From This Is Local London)

Ewell green grocers celebrate diamond wedding anniversary

9:58am Wednesday 12th November 2008 in Where I Live

When Charlie Stear was rescuing a young pretty girl from the rubble of a World War II bomb blast in 1943, little did he know that 65 years later they would be celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

Charlie and Amy, who live in Ewell, have jointly run CF and MC Stear green grocers in Surbiton since 1968 and, despite spending every day working and living together, their marriage has lasted 60 solid years.

Charlie, 84, gets up at 2am six days a week to pick up fruit and vegetables from the New Covent Garden Market, while wife Amy, 82, runs the shop three days a week.

The truly family business in Surbiton Hill Park also employs their daughter Wendy, 57, and son Martyn, 56, full time.

They have spent barely a day of their marriage apart and emphasise that team work is their recipe for success.

Amy said: “Now and again we have our little upsets if I haven’t done the job right but I let him have his little grumble and then come back again.”

Despite their advancing years, the Stears have no plans to retire because they enjoy their trade too much.

Charlie, who survives on five hours of sleep a night, said: “I know so many people at the market and if I didn’t go I would really miss it.”

The pair married at the Twelve Apostles church in Swanley, Kent, on November 7, 1948.

It followed a five-year courtship, the first year of which the pair were both unaware that he was the man who saved her life in the rubble.

They only learned they had met before when her parents recognised him on their first meeting.

The couple celebrated their anniversary with a party at the Holiday Inn, Chessington, last Saturday.

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