Margaret and Alex Hall celebrating 70 platinum years

The prolific vegetable garden of Alex Hall, located on SH2 at Piripiri, north of Dannevirke, some years ago.

Margaret (nee Benbow) and Alex Hall have just celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary - 70 years ago they married on June 25 at Knox Presbyterian Church.

Though they are now living nearer their son in Te Awamutu, Alex still stays in contact with some locals. Most of their lifetime was spent in and around Dannevirke.

Margaret and Alex Hall celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.

Observant motorists, who travelled State Highway 2 regularly, may recall a prolific vegetable garden out in Piripiri with neatly tended rows of every imaginable vegetable. Alex was the gardener who enjoyed working in his garden each day (unless he was on the golf course) with any extra produce dropped off to friends in town.

Margaret was tasked with preserving or freezing much of the produce when it was freshly harvested, although Alex's huge jars of pickled onions were a much sought after raffle prize out at the Norsewood Golf Course.

They moved from Thyra St, Dannevirke, to their block of land in Piripiri around 1961. Alex continued to work for NZ Rail and Margaret tended to the 100 ewes, and almost as many hens, as well as raising their family – Ngaire, who now resides in Brisbane and Colin who farms in Wharepapa South, near Te Awamutu.

Twenty years ago they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends at the Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club. It was a great celebration with family and friends coming from Queensland, Auckland, Upper Hutt and Napier.

Now, 20 years on, they have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in Te Awamutu. They moved north in 2008 when life on their four acre block became too much to manage.

This year's celebration was a much quieter affair – their daughter could not return because of Covid restrictions and many of their contemporaries find the restrictions of advancing years make travel impossible. They were happy to have fish and chips (Margaret's favourite meal!) and a quiet bottle of bubbly with their son and daughter-in-law, Colin and Sue.

Their house was a sea of flowers and both Alex and Margaret enjoyed reading the personal messages on cards sent from Her Majesty The Queen, Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Tracey Martin, Minister for Seniors.

Both in their 90s and still living in their own home they are a real inspiration. As Margaret says – "we just keep on putting one foot in front of the other; you just have to don't you?"