A signed photo led to a marriage that has stood the tests of time, with a Stratford couple celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary
"We used to listen to the radio a lot back then. There wasn't much else to do." Margaret Hayward says she and her twin sister Daphne used to write to some of the performers they heard on the radio to ask for a signed photo when they were growing up in the 50s in Te Kuiti.
One of the performers Margaret wrote to was a young man called Ron Hayward. "I have no idea why," she laughs when asked what it was about the young performer, who used to sing, play guitar and yodel on the radio show, that appealed to her. "We wrote to quite a few asking for their photos and autographs. We collected them really."
Ron says soon after receiving the request from Margaret, he and his parents were due to travel through Te Kuiti on their way to be guest artists on another radio show hosted by Jack Riggir (father of 1980s country music star Patsy Riggir).
"So we stopped in to visit, and there was something about Margaret that made me want to visit again. I started taking my motorbike up to visit her a few times and things went from there really."
