TWO people born within 20 miles of each other did not meet until both were working in what was then Northern Rhodesia but is now Zambia.

Don and Sheila Nicholson were married at All Saints' Church, Lusaka, on October 3, 1959.

No members of either family were there, it was expensive to fly, took too long by sea to get there.

Both were from what is now Teeside.

Don became an agricultural officer with the Colonial Service. Sheila had been working for the Post Office before joining the WRNS. When she came out of the WRNS, she and friends decided to try "something different" and off they sailed to Rhodesia on the Union Castle. Sheila being in charge of the Post Office telephone exchange, first in Salisbury and was then transferred to Lusaka.

Don was working in the Zambezi valley, involved in a resettlement scheme for the Kariba Dam, part of a team working to find places for the 30,000 people who had lived where the world's largest man-made lake would be. The lake was filled between 1958 and 1963.

Don was weekending in Lusaka with friends from the bush when he and Sheila met. "I didn't work after we were married, firms didn't want married women," said Sheila.

Their first home was in Bulawayo. Don joined an agricultural company, then came a move to Umtale. "We were in Northern Rhodesia for five years and following promotion, worked in Nigeria, where we founded an animal foods company," said Don. "We survived two military coups, but after the second decided to come back to England."

He was sales manager of Pfizer's agricultural division in Sandwich, Kent and they lived in Canterbury. Other changes came along, including offers of more work abroad for Don, but he chose, instead, to buy a farm in Devon.

"We scraped up enough money to buy Binneford near Yeoford, moving there in 1970," he said. They later bought Trevince, building a new farmhouse and buildings before moving to their present bungalow overlooking Yeoford, 22 years ago.

Painting had always been an interest of Don's but he never had chance to do much about it until after they retired.

He is now one of the top Westcountry artists, a member of Tiverton Art Group and of the Tedburn Art Group run by David and Margot Samuels.

Don was highly pleased to have had one of his paintings among the 420 chosen from an entry of 19,000 to hang in the Mall Galleries in London. "It was quite a magical experience to go to London and see my painting with the others and when they were all printed in the Daily Mail," he said.

Sheila is a member of Yeoford Yarns, does magnificent sugarcraft work, learning from Hazel May in Crediton, and is an active member of Hittisleigh Parish Church, where two of their children were married.

She and Don had four children but one son died in an accident abroad. Their other son lives in Bradford, one daughter is a midwife and lives locally, the younger daughter is in County Kildare, Ireland. They have given Don and Sheila 11 grandchildren.

They celebrated their golden anniversary with a family barn dance, shared with friends.

Staying together for 50 years? "You have to have a sense of humour," said Don, with a grin.

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