Seventy years of love has flown by for one Lithgow couple.
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From first meeting at a Christian Youth Group in England in 1941, Colin and Brenda Hope hit it off right from the start.
They were only about 15 at the time, but knew that what they had was special.
After a few years of courting, they were married on Saturday, November 5 in 1949.
"The day couldn't have been worse," Brenda laughed.
"I mean the weather was awful, it was storming and was a very wet day," she said.
The couple wed in their home town of Hastings, by the sea.
"We married on Guy Fawkes Day in England, so maybe that's why the weather was rough," she said.
After the wedding the couple took off straight to London.
Seven years later the happily married couple decided to make the move to Australia.
"My brother was in the navy and he came out to Australia and met an Australian girl and we followed in his footsteps," Colin said.
"England wasn't great at the time, it was just after the war and there was a lot of rationing and things going on.
"Plus, Australia at that time wanted people so we came out as ten pound Poms."
They were lucky to make it to Australia, however.
"We were on the last boat through the Suez Canal, and at that time there was some trouble brewing and the British people weren't able to get through. But because we were on an Italian boat we made it through," Colin said.
"It took us about five weeks to get here."
Once arriving in Australia, the couple and their two year old son settled in Katoomba as Colin began a job on the railway.
"I worked as an electrical fitter on the railway between Sydney to Bowenfels, and when that finished I started work at the Small Arms Factory," he said.
Colin said he didn't enjoy travelling from Katoomba to Lithgow for work every day, so the family made the decision to move to Lithgow.
"We are still living in the house we first moved into when we came to Lithgow, so that was probably over 50 years ago," Brenda said.
"Our big move was coming to Australia so that's probably why we haven't left Lithgow."
Brenda worked for 12 months at the Small Arms Factory when they were looking for women workers.
"My full time job was really looking after my children," she said.
The couple had three children, two boys and one girl.
"So we have one English child and two Australian," she said.
The couple has been back to their home country around six times now.
"I sometimes get a bit homesick and wonder what we are doing here, but it's home now," she said.
The couple said 70 years has just flown by.
"We are quite happy, we haven't had no upsets really, we argue a bit but it's nothing serious, it's all just give and take," Brenda said.
"He is a good-hearted fellow, I've been lucky compared to some people."
The 91-year-olds tend to spend their days at home, and Colin dedicates his time to the Lithgow RSL sub-branch, of which he is vice president.
"We've led a quiet sort of life," he said.
But on looking back, Colin talked about the time he was recruited into the British Army for two and a half years.
"I had a bit of adventure then," he said.
"We have also travelled around Europe and we've been to every state and capital in Australia.
"I was also a scout leader for 12 years...I was actually the first leader of scouts in Lithgow."
Colin decided to change his original statement.
"Maybe we have had a pretty active life when you look back on it," he said.
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