‘We just clicked’ say golden Whitnash couple Terry and Sheila

Terry and Sheila Whitehouse married on a cloudless day at St Margaret’s church on September 22, 1962, and will celebrate their golden anniversary with lunch with family and friends at the Leopard pub in Bishops Tachbrook tomorrow (Saturday).

But although the Landor Road couple don’t pretend they have never argued, they seem to get on as well today as they did when they first met.

When Mrs Whitehouse says: “We just clicked,” Mr Whitehouse says: “We always got on well together.”

And when she says: “We really are very close,” he adds: “I always say we make a good team.”

If it all seems too good to be true, Mrs Whitehouse said: “I don’t believe people who say they’ve never had a cross word. You have to have disagreements to live happily together, otherwise one of the partners is giving way all the time.”

With two sons and two daughters, even the family is well balanced. Mrs Whitehouse had grown up in Whitnash, while Mr Whitehouse lived a short distance away in Northway, south Leamington. Mrs Whitehouse was a pupil at Leamington Girls College, while her future husband attended the boys’ college.

The couple first met when Mrs Whitehouse was 16, but began seeing each other in earnest after meeting at a dance at the
New Hall in Whitnash, now part of the town’s sports and social club.

They married four years later, and two years later had Ian, the first of their four children, with daughter Elaine following in 1966 and twins Vicky and Neil in 1971.

Mr Whitehouse’s career took him from working as a draughtsman at Walwin Pumps upwards through chartered engineer, chief designer and finally to technical director at Benfords.

Mrs Whitehouse worked as a legal secretary, but devoted much of her energy to bringing up the couple’s four children Ian, Elaine and twins Vicky and Neil.

The couple enjoy ballroom dancing and bowls at Snitterfield Bowls Club, where Mr Whitehouse is secretary and Mrs Whitehouse is ladies’ captain.