THE secret to a long and happy marriage for a Mary Tavy couple is laughter. Michael and Shirley Ryland celebrated their golden wedding at Lewtrenchard Manor Hotel on Friday, July 20. The couple had their rings blessed by the Rev Valerie Honey and enjoyed a high Devonshire full cream tea with 51 of their closest friends and family to celebrate the special day. They married at St Giles Parish Church in Sheldon, Birmingham, on July 20, 1957. At the age of 10 the pair went to the same school, Yardley Grammar School in Birmingham. They started dating when they were 16 and married five years later when they were 21. Straight after their wedding they moved to Plymouth for Michael?s job as he was the rep for his own company ? later he became director. He retired in 1999. Shirley worked in a Plymouth doctor?s surgery before joining the surgery in Gunnislake. She worked there for 17 years until she retired in 1995.They moved to Mary Tavy in 1990. The couple have two children Kevan, 48, who lives in East Anglia and Sharon, 46, who lives in Plympton. They have four grandsons, Bradley, 8, and Daniel, 6, Mark, 22, and Richard 19. Although Michael said he could have told many jokes about their lives together he said: ?In all honesty she is my rock! ?She has always been supportive, even when it has not always been the right decision. They always say behind a successful man is a successful woman. The secret is that we still laugh a lot.? The day was made extra special by the attendance of Michael?s best man Peter Maddox, and Shirley?s bridesmaid Christine Foskett. Plus James Rundle, Michael?s oldest friend, and six people from Yardley School.
