Couple celebrate diamond date

Jim, 82, and Elsa Streeter, 83, both retired, of Pulborough, spent their 60th anniversary together at home.

And earlier this week they had a meal with one of their daughters in an Amberley pub to celebrate Elsa’s 83rd birthday.

Elsa said: “We are not very social - that’s the word - we like the treat and a meal.”

The couple met romantically in a coffee shop near the Causeway in Horsham in 1952.

Elsa had missed her bus and gone in for a coffee when Jim walked in.

She continued: “I went in for a coffee for an hour and there sat a British soldier.

“He gave me a lift and we started talking, and that was the beginning.

“We got married in 1953 in Storrington in a register office - we didn’t want a big wedding, we are not that kind of people.”

Jim, originally from Nutbourne, was on leave from a five-year post in the Army in Germany.

He later joined the reserves for seven years and then worked as a lorry driver for a number of organisations, including Horsham District Council.

Elsa, originally from Sweden, moved and settled in Britain only months before she met Jim.

She explained: “The reason was after the war a very curious thing happened in Sweden - young girls went to America.

“I never fancied a big country so I had my eye on England and in the end I decided to go in 1952.”

Three years after their marriage the pair rode to Sweden on a motorbike, with a ‘massive suitcase’ at the back, Jim said.

“That was just a scream, the roads were just gravel of course,” Elsa laughed.

The couple have had four children and three grandchildren.

On the secret to a happy marriage, Elsa commented: “We live life with a sense of humour because if you think about it life can be pretty ridiculous.

“We have a fixed set of ideals and if you can see the funny side of things the main thing is that we have each other.”