Happy Fleetwood couple celebrate 73 years of marriage - and they still go dancing

When couple John and Kathleen Etty first tied the knot in January 1950, they could hardly have dreamt they’d be celebrating an anniversary in 2023.
By Richard Hunt
Published 31st Jan 2023, 04:55 BST
Updated 31st Jan 2023, 16:35 BST
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Yet the couple, who live in Larkholme, Fleetwood, have done just that, having reached their 73rd wedding anniversary on Saturday (January 28).

Although John is 96 and Kathleen 97, the sprightly pair celebrated by going to one of their favourite haunts, Cleveleys Working Men’s Club on Slinger Road, where they can still often be found dancing the night away.

In fact the pair are quite the celebrities there!

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BLACKPOOL - 28-01-23 Happy couple John and Kathleen Etty from Thornton-Cleveleys, celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary. They enjoy dancing and rubgy, John used to be a professional player.BLACKPOOL - 28-01-23 Happy couple John and Kathleen Etty from Thornton-Cleveleys, celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary. They enjoy dancing and rubgy, John used to be a professional player.
BLACKPOOL - 28-01-23 Happy couple John and Kathleen Etty from Thornton-Cleveleys, celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary. They enjoy dancing and rubgy, John used to be a professional player.

“They’re like a couple of kids,” says their daughter Jean Griffith, 72, of St David’s Avenue, Cleveleys.

"They go out much more than I do and everyone in that club seems to know them!

“I think it’s their dancing and healthy lifestyle which has kept them going. They were teetotal until they were 40.”

Although they have lived in Larkholme since 1971, their story begins in Batley, Yorkshire, where the pair are both originally from.

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John and Kathleen Etty enjoy dancing and rubgy, John used to be a professional player.John and Kathleen Etty enjoy dancing and rubgy, John used to be a professional player.
John and Kathleen Etty enjoy dancing and rubgy, John used to be a professional player.

They were married at the town’s Cross Bank Methodist Church and for several years ran a fish and chip shop.

John spent many years as a professional Rugby League player, playing 346 games for Batley between 1944 and 1955, before being sold to Oldham and eventually Wakefield Trinity.

John’s crowing glory came near the end of his career when he played left wing in Trinity's 38–5 victory over Hull F.C. in the 1959–60 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on May 14 1960.

John enjoyed an illustrious career in rugby, winning a string of medals and representing Yorkshire and the British Empire XIII and he was also an England reserve.

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Happy couple John and Kathleen Etty on their wedding day in Batley, in 1950Happy couple John and Kathleen Etty on their wedding day in Batley, in 1950
Happy couple John and Kathleen Etty on their wedding day in Batley, in 1950

However, the pay was meagre, so John also worked as a welfare officer in local government at Batley, Lacock in Wiltshire, Middlesbrough and finally in Blackpool, which brought the couple to the Fylde coast.

John said: “We came here because of my career and we’ve never regretted it. I was deputy director of welfare services at Blackpool Council.”

The pair have two daughters, Jean, 72, and Janice, 70, and four grandchildren.

Kathleen said of their long marriage: “We’ve always got on, we have the same interests – we loved travel and went all over the world.

"And I enjoyed watching rugby!” she added.

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Related topics:BatleyFleetwoodBlackpool