How this Sheffield couple celebrated 65th wedding anniversary in style despite coronavirus lockdown

This is one Sheffield love story which would not be beaten by the coronavirus lockdown.
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Harold Bramhall and June Pearson might not have been able to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary in quite the manner they’d hoped but that didn’t stop the couple, who remain as besotted as the night they first met, from enjoying a very special day.

They toasted the big occasion with a glass of bubbly at their home in Parson Cross and serenaded one another with Al Jolson’s The Anniversary Song, a tune as timeless as their romance, before settling down to a few games of cribbage and taking in some classic movies.

Sheffield couple June Pearson and Harold Bramhall on their wedding day in 1965 and todaySheffield couple June Pearson and Harold Bramhall on their wedding day in 1965 and today
Sheffield couple June Pearson and Harold Bramhall on their wedding day in 1965 and today
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“We were going to have a big family party for them so it’s a shame that couldn’t happen but they didn’t let it spoil their day. We were all calling and texting them, and they had their glass of bubbly and enjoyed a waltz around the living room,” said their daughter Julie.

June was just 16 when she first set eyes upon Harold at a party in Parson Cross, where they have lived for almost their entire lives.

For him it was ‘love at first sight’, said Julie, though June initially feared that at 19 he was a little too old for her.

Thankfully she didn’t let the age gap stand in their way, with Harold managing to ‘sweep her off her feet’, and they tied the knot at St Cecilia’s Church on March 26, 1955.

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They had two children together, Julie and Russell, who sadly passed away in 2014, and they now have six grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and a great-great-granddaughter.

Harold, 87, was a steelworker who spent many years at Woodhead Components on Alma Street. He was also a talented singer who as one half of the double act Hal and Joe performed on the club circuit belting out hits by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Al Jolson.

Always a keen sportsman, he has managed to move with the times and today enjoys the occasional round of golf on his Xbox 360.

June, who at 84 remains a regular bingo player, worked at the Bassett’s sweets factory before their children were born and later returned to work as a domestic assistant at Grenoside Hospital until she retired.

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While the enforced quarantine to curb the spread of COVID-19 is bound to test many relationships to the limit, for Harold and June the flame burns as bright as ever.

“They’re such a lovely couple. They still hold hands and they’re always singing together, kissing and telling each other ‘I love you’,” said Julie.

“I don’t know what their secret is because when you talk to them about their relationship their answers are so different it’s like they’ve lived totally different lives, but I guess it’s something to do with agreeing to disagree and taking each day as it comes.”

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