Moama residents Norman and Doris Bamford will be celebrating 70 years of commitment to one another on Wednesday, December 18.
The Bamfords, who will both be 90 after Doris celebrates her birthday in early December, have seen their fair share of the world, standing by each other all the while.
They married at 20 years of age in 1954 at St Paul’s Church in Royton, a town in Greater Manchester, England.
Norman worked as a bricklayer, which he said was a “family tradition” passed down paternally, with he and his brothers learning the trade.
Doris worked in cotton mills, which she said was enjoyable, especially as many of her co-workers were also friends.
The newly married Bamfords hoped to move to Australia after their wedding, but Norman was chosen for national service, serving Britain for two years in Germany from 1955.
Following his stint in the army, the pair moved to Australia from Oldham in 1958.
The Bamfords were Ten Pound Poms, referring to British citizens who migrated to Australia after World War II for a £10 fee under a government scheme to increase the population and workforce.
They arrived by boat on the final trip of the TSS Strathnaver after a five-week voyage, playing bridge and shuffleboard to pass the time.
“Five weeks of doing nothing, really,” Doris said.
“It was hard, because there wasn’t anything you had to make your own.”
Upon arriving in the country, the Bamfords settled in Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, deciding to rent a half-house instead of living in a hostel, which many Ten Pound Poms stayed in.
“We came out here and immediately, the day after we came, (Norman) had a job bricklaying,” Doris said.
“He used to ride on his bike with his tools on his back, because we couldn’t drive — we’d never had a car.”
Besides Norman’s uncle and aunty who lived in the northern Melbourne suburb of Merlynston, the Bamfords didn’t know anybody in Australia.
They didn’t return to Oldham for 25 years after emigrating, but have visited friends and family around five times since moving.
“It was very emotional going back ... but we used to always turn around and say, when we got home, ‘good to be home’.” Doris said.
“I haven’t regretted one minute of coming to Australia.”
They went on to have two children, Susan and Mark, in Melbourne, and purchased a newsagency in Brunswick East in the mid-1980s, which they ran for around five years.
Norman said it was hard work running the business but, despite the difficulty, Doris said they enjoyed their time as newsagents.
“All I know is it was early mornings,” Doris said, with a laugh.
“But I think that’s what set us on our feet.”
Norman later worked for Australia Post in Thomastown and, in 2009, the Bamfords moved to Moama after retiring to enjoy lawn bowls, fishing and the warmer weather.
“We decided where we were going to go and spend the rest of our life, and we came up here and this was it,” Doris said.
“We’d come up to Moama because we used to play bowls a lot.”
“I wasn’t bad at bowls,” Norman said — perhaps an understatement, as he was runner-up in the Victorian state championship one year.
When asked the secret to 70 years of marriage, Doris said with a grin: “One bowling in Victoria, and the other in NSW.”
More seriously, she said it was a difficult thing to pin down.
“That’s a hard one, really,” she said.
“I think the secret is just, learn to live and learn to do all the things you can together, which we’ve done right through life.”
“We’ve still got to plod on,” Norman said.
The Bamfords have two children, five grandchildren, became great-grandparents this year, and own a staffy, Bronson, which they adopted six years ago.