Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Rare milestone marks special bond

Matthew Martin
By Matthew Martin
Senior reporter, Rotorua Daily Post·Rotorua Daily Post·
30 Nov, 2015 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

John and Maisie Bond tied the knot 75 years ago today and are just as much in love as they were back in 1940. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

John and Maisie Bond tied the knot 75 years ago today and are just as much in love as they were back in 1940. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

As battle raged in the skies above London 75 years ago today, Rotorua couple John and Maisie Bond tied the knot.

Mr and Mrs Bond's rare milestone was marked yesterday with a family lunch with their two boys, Anthony and Paul, now senior citizens themselves, who had come to Rotorua for the weekend to help their parents celebrate their 75th anniversary.

Mr Bond said as the couple left the church after taking their wedding vows they looked up to see a Spitfire attacking a German Messerschmitt ME109 in the skies above them.

"Then we heard the pitter-patter of shell casings landing on the ground around us, it was during the Battle of Britain and a quite common occurrence," he said.

Just a month later the little church was destroyed by German bombs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
John and Maisie Bond tied the knot 75 years ago today and are just as much in love as they were back in 1940. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER
John and Maisie Bond tied the knot 75 years ago today and are just as much in love as they were back in 1940. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

The small service was attended by Mrs Bond's (nee Lindridge) mother, father, grandmother and young niece. Mr Bond's parents had moved to New Zealand by that time and his best man was his friend Arthur Palfreyman.

The 24-year-old Mr Bond was in the Royal Air Force and had just been promoted to Flying Officer and was working on new technology that would help protect England during its darkest hours - radar - while Mrs Bond, 21, was working as secretary for the Clerk of the Kesteven County Council in Lincolnshire.

Their wedding cake "was a funny little thing" with just six sultanas in it and "the icing ran away from the knife when we cut through it", Mr Bond said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There were air raids all the time and we had no coupons to spend on fancy clothes or a lavish meal, but we did have six days for our honeymoon in a lovely little township in Berkshire," Mrs Bond said.

John and Maisie Bond outside All Saints Church in New Eltham, London, just after their wedding on December 1, 1940. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
John and Maisie Bond outside All Saints Church in New Eltham, London, just after their wedding on December 1, 1940. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Mr Bond, 99, and Mrs Bond, 96, say they have rarely fought or argued in their 75 years of marriage and said the key to a happy life was a number of little things - never going to bed angry with each other, talking things out sensibly, listening to each other's concerns, not worrying about the little things and compromise.

"It's about give and take. We don't always agree but there's no point going to bed angry. You make up and get back into life the next day," Mrs Bond said.

"We've had a great deal of fun over our 75 years, it's been a quite interesting life."

"It was a genuine love match and that was it, and we have never felt any different," Mr Bond said.

"It wasn't easy in the first few years during the war, but being an officer made it easier because I did not have to stay on base all the time. Maisie got used to being an Air Force wife in the end," he said.

The couple said they were still very happy together, and had been for a long time.

"Not many will achieve 75 years. We are still not taking any medications, we only need specs to read and we both are licensed to drive."

"I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather have spent 75 years with," Mrs Bond said.

John and Maisie's tips for a successful marriage:
-Never go to bed angry with each other
-Talk things out sensibly
-Listen to each other
-Try not to worry about the little things
-Compromise

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily PostUpdated

Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

11 May 07:50 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 06:06 PM
Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

Concern 'patients will suffer' as practices with 46,000 enrolled switch funder

11 May 05:00 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

11 May 07:50 PM

Flights from Auckland and Wellington were among those cancelled.

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 06:06 PM
Premium
Concern 'patients will suffer' as practices with 46,000 enrolled switch funder

Concern 'patients will suffer' as practices with 46,000 enrolled switch funder

11 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion: Why a US recession could be on the horizon

Opinion: Why a US recession could be on the horizon

11 May 04:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP