Jack and Phyllis Potter celebrate 70 years together

by Alan McGuinness

On the night of October 4, 1941, a lovestruck Jack Potter got out his diary and grabbed his pencil.

With the butterflies undoubtedly still in his stomach, he wrote: “Very nice evening. Danced with [a] very nice girl. Hope I meet her again.”

Mr Potter, who was based at Brompton Barracks at the time, did get a chance to meet that very nice girl – Phyllis – again and he went on to make her his wife.

Less than two years later the couple wed at All Saints Church in Frindsbury and have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

And they still have the diary where he made that momentous entry all those years ago.

Mr Potter, who worked in the building trade for more than 30 years after being discharged from the Army, met his future wife at a dance hall above a Co-op supermarket in Strood. Mrs Potter was a shop worker at the time.

Looking back, he described the moment with fondness. He said: “It was definitely love at first sight, everything fell into place. It was uncanny really.”

Full story in tomorrow's Medway Messenger