WHEN Paul Seddon was in his early twenties he was assigned to spend a short few weeks working as a member of the Royal British Air Force in Woomera in the backblocks of Australia.
While it was just for a blink in time his memories surrounding visiting a local Aussie pub and experiencing a glimpse of life Down Under was enough for him to later pack up his young family and leave Manchester, England behind.
“My wife, Jennifer, and I had two small children and we started talking about what our future looked like. I loved my stay in Aussie so I said let’s take up the Ten Pound Pom invitation to make Australia our forever home,” he recalled.
Paul was reminiscing last week about those early days with his wife as they talked about their life and marriage together which recently eclipsed 60 years.
They arrived in Australia in 1969 and lived in Victoria before moving to the Beaudesert region 31 years ago.
They both say the decision to move to Australia was the best they ever made.
Paul and Jennifer first met at a Manchester dance hall and it took three years after their first waltz before Paul popped the question.
The secret to their long marriage according to Paul was that he always did ‘as he was told’.
Jennifer just laughed at that comment saying it was the opposite.
On a serious note they said it was important in a marriage to allow each other to be their own person.
Paul also said the bond of having a child together was a wonderful blessing and from the moment their eldest daughter Alison was born their marriage changed.
“We went from two single lives to a family life,” he said.
“That became ever stronger when Martin, Stewart and Richard came along.”
The Seddon’s celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary quietly earlier this month with Paul presenting his wife with a large bouquet of flowers.
