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A married couple have marked 35 years together by celebrating their Coral wedding anniversary at - a Coral bookies.
Paul Seymour, 60, decided to treat his wife, Joanne, to a date at their local bookmakers to celebrate the landmark.
The maternity clinic worker took the love of his life, Joanne, along to their local Coral in Bexley, with a bottle of champagne and a £200 betting budget on Sunday, July 28, the day of their anniversary.
Paul said the inspiration to hatch the plan came from the Gravesend couple’s tendency to gamble, and how his mum used to work at the store which his dad regularly visited.
The couple are known for pulling stunts on big occasions - after arranging for a Dalek to be their best man when they renewed their wedding vows in 2014 at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Gravesend.
Five years ago, the Doctor Who super fans wowed their 80 guests when a Dalek wearing a bow tie whizzed down the isle to deliver Joanne’s wedding ring.
Paul says he wanted to come up with another quirky way of celebrating their next big occasion.
He said: “We always try to be a little bit different. We like to gamble and we visit the Coral regularly so I thought why not.
“We try to stick to themes and I couldn’t think of anything else for our Coral anniversary.
“But I thought why not, it’s close to my family and we both like to have a bet every now and again.
“We spent about three hours in there. We took a bottle of champagne and raised a glass outside, we weren’t allowed to drink inside.
“We managed to have a few small wins and actually come out £200 up.
“All in all it was a great day and a fitting way for us to celebrate.”
Joanne said Paul is a romantic at heart and prone to do the unexpected.
She says she "couldn't stop laughing" when she find out what Paul's big plan was.
"It was surprising and unique and very typical of my husband, who is prone to doing the unexpected.
"I must admit I couldn’t stop laughing, the lady in the shop was really nice, and she produced a bottle of champagne that Paul had dropped off earlier.
"He did give me some money to put a bet on and we did win, but it didn’t last long as we went out for an expensive meal the same evening.
"He is really romantic – unlike me and I love him to bits. I wouldn’t swap his eccentricity. He keeps me happy and we do laugh a lot."
Paul and Joanne married in 1984 after initially meeting on a blind date set up by friends a year earlier.
At the time Joanne was a trainee midwife and Paul was an undertaker, but now they both work in the maternity ward at Darent Valley Hospital, in Dartford.
Sci-fi superfan, Paul, say he wants to keep up their tradition of doing something a little different to celebrate each milestone.
“My dad taught me how to gamble and me and Joanne love a night out at the dogs”, said Paul.
“I just went into the shop to ask the branch manager and they were great about it.
“We doubled our money, which was nice.
“A few people thought we had won big because we had champagne. People seemed to take it light-heartedly.”
One of the reasons for Paul wanting to spend his special day at Coral was because of the affiliation his family has to the store, in Northumberland Heath.
His mum, Brenda, used to work as a cleaner at the betting shop and his dad, David, used to visit regularly.
Paul said: “It was a chance to raise a toast to my parents.
“Our family has always been keen on Coral and it brings back a lot of memories for me.
“Perhaps my parents were looking down on us when we had our wins.”
Paul says he’s already started planning ahead to the couple’s Ruby wedding anniversary in five years time.
