MORE than 50 years ago a young removals lorry driver was so taken with the daughter of the family he was helping to move that he asked her father’s permission to take her out.

That couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary last month. They are Bert and Margaret Jewell who got married at Down St Mary and have lived in Crediton ever since.

Both are very well-known in gardening circles probably all over the country, certainly it must be well through the South West, both showing first gladioli and then Bert specialising in pelargoniums and as a judge.

Margaret was a “local” girl, her father was a farm worker, her mother had come to Devon from London as a Land Army girl who got married and stayed. They lived near Stockleigh Pomeroy and Margaret began her schooldays in the thatched school at Cheriton Fitzpaine, finishing at Shelley, now QE Lower School.

Many people might remember Margaret’s mother, Grace, the delightful auburn haired lady who ran the food counter at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, for many years.

When her father changed jobs, Margaret’s family moved to Witham Friary near Frome, Somerset but it was not many years before they came back to Crediton.

Driving the lorry for the removals was a young Bert Jewell. He asked Margaret’s father for permission to go out with her. “We were engaged within six weeks of first going out,” remembered Margaret. But it was a while before they could marry.

From school, Margaret first worked in the Co-Op insurance office in Exeter, then because she was a good needlewoman she went to Babychic on Mill Street, Crediton but was disappointed to find this used less of her skills than anticipated.

She had long wanted to be a nurse. “I was too young when I left school. They did not take you until you were 18. I went into the RD and E, living in the nurses quarters because then you lived in when you were training.

“My parents were living on Morchard Road. I was 19 when we got married at Down St Mary on January 22, 1972,” she said.

They held their reception at Down St Mary Village Hall. Margaret had made her own wedding dress plus those of her three bridesmaids. She made a wedding dress for her sister and, more recently, a ballgown for her daughter, Stephanie.

Bert’s father worked in forestry, their cottage was in the wood at Farway. Bert walked the mile to primary school and back, then finished school in Honiton, leaving at 15, like so many people then.

“Father had a big garden and I did a lot with him. I said I wanted to be a gardener, but he said he would get me "a proper job", so got me a job with an engineering workshop in Honiton.

“I stayed there for eight years, then I heard there was a job going with Way and Son in Crediton, got the job and was driving the furniture van or a lorry. Later I worked for Ken Gulley at Crediton Milling Company at Fordton.

“In the meantime I had become involved with Crediton Garden Club,” said Bert. By then too, he was married.

Their first home was on Park Street. They spent a year doing it up. Their next home was 102 High Street, which Sue Read bought from them for it to become the office of the "Crediton Courier" and where she lived for a number of years.

That had a garden. Then came a bungalow on Park Road, they built a house in the garden and from there, over time, moved to their current home on Golden Joy and another garden.

“We had opened our garden for charity when we were on Park Road. People asked if I would do their gardens. I was then working for a firm in Exeter,” said Bert.

“Eventually, in 1987, I was able to go on my own as a gardener and I have been gardening for other people ever since.

“I began exhibiting at garden shows. We heard there was one at Appledore for gladioli. I won the trophies, causing a bit of an upset and the following year they asked me to judge!” laughed Bert.

He moved from gladioli to specialise in pelargoniums, joined the Pelargonium and Geranium Society, takes part in its annual show, won the Novice Cup that first year, delighted to win Best in Show in 2005.

They have been exhibiting at Devon County Show for a number of years, winning Silver Gilt the first year and then five Golds in succession.

“Those tables are 15 feet long,” said Margaret. That is a lot of space to fill with flowers that have to be brought to their prime and are not in small tubs either. Bert was working and so a lot of looking after the plants fell to her.

She had qualified as an SRN, now RGN, before their son, Christopher, was born. For a time she worked at Creedy Court near Shobrooke and then went as a Bank Nurse, an agency nurse.

She realised she wanted to specialise in the care of older people and joined the staff at Redhills Hospital in Exeter (now Redhills House), ending her working life at the Shell Garage on Exeter Road.

For 18 years Bert was Verger at Crediton Parish Church, Margaret much involved with the life of the church.

Both play skittles with the Foresters, are members of the RHS and the RSPB, much enjoying watching the birds in their garden. Bert is a member of Crediton and District Lions Club, receiving the glass "Thanks" award this year for helping at the Covid Vaccination Centre and both voluntarily look after flower planters around Crediton including on the Town Square, at Hillbrow and on Mill Street.

They had hoped to have a party for their golden wedding anniversary but Covid restrictions then meant it has been postponed.

Bert was also proud to receive an RHS Britain in Bloom Community Champion Award last year “for his service to bloom” from the South West Committee.

With their son and daughter, Bert and Margaret have four grandchildren.