THE YEARS rolled back for a couple when they celebrated their golden wedding at the weekend.
Linda and Arthur Trunkfield spent their honeymoon at Macdonald Alveston Manor Hotel in Stratford and they returned for their 50th anniverary – and paid the same price they did half a century ago.
The Lincolnshire couple contacted the hotel with the receipt from their original stay and were invited to come back for their anniversary for the same price as it cost them as newlyweds.
They even stayed in the same room – Room 12 – where they spent their honeymoon.
The couple, both 72, spent three nights at the hotel next to Clopton Bridge in November 1967 following their wedding on November 18 at Coleshill Registry Office in Birmingham. At the time Linda was a sewing machinist and Arthur worked for the Alvis Car Company in Coventry.
Later they moved to Lincolnshire where, for ten years, they ran a hotel, but they have retained warm memories of their stay at Alveston Manor, along with the original receipt for £5 and 15 shillings – the equivalent of £98.39 today.
Linda said: “It really was the place to stay and as you can never be sure what life is going to throw at you we thought we’d push the boat out for our honeymoon.
“At that time the hotel had Italian waiters who made all kinds of amusing remarks about us being on honeymoon. It hadn’t helped of course that when we’d arrived our cases came out of the car in a cloud of confetti, so that gave the game away.”
“We visited the hotel about five years ago, when we were in Stratford with our family for a day and what we saw of it looked absolutely lovely. When we stayed there originally it was one of the very few hotels that had en-suite bathrooms, and now it also has a swimming pool and leisure facilities.”
Alveston Manor general manager James Bee was pleased to welcome the couple back.
He said: “When we received the letter from Linda and Arthur we were delighted to have them back for their golden wedding and it seemed only fitting that, as they still had the original receipt, they should pay the same price as they did for their honeymoon.
