LOVING couple Kenneth and Barbara Pickard, who met in Trowbridge Park on VE Day in 1945, now have a spot to call their very own after the Friends of Trowbridge Park unveiled a new bench and floral border to honour them.

The Riot of Colour Border – a new seat with a pergola at the back of the Court Mills building – was installed to honour Mr and Mrs Pickard, who met on May 8, 1945 during celebrations to mark the end of the Second World War.

Mr Pickard, 92, and Mrs Pickard, 89, attended the opening ceremony with Mayor Roger Andrews on Saturday which gave the couple chance to look back at how they met.

Mrs Pickard said: “Everyone was so happy all those years ago because of the end of the war and I spoke to Kenneth because we both went to the celebrations on our own – it was pure chance you could say and we took it from there.

“I was only 17 or 18 at the time and I was quite quiet so I felt with the celebrations that I had to go because I had my brothers serving in the forces at the time.”

The couple married 18 months later at St James’ Church while Mr Pickard was an apprentice at the Wiltshire Times.

After seeing an appeal by the volunteering group for donations, the couple contacted Sharl Adabashi, chairman of FoTP in March and decided to donate the majority of the costs towards the initial floral border idea.

It was with leftover donations that gave Mr Adabashi an idea to go the extra mile and use some of the money donated by the couple to buy a bench and pergola to commemorate the place where they first met.

Nearly 70 years on, the couple have said shared interests such as gardening have kept their relationship strong and hope the new edition to the park will bring other couples as much happiness as it has to them.

“We made a donation to the park to commemorate it and all the improvements that have been made and we thought it was an ideal time to donate money,” Mrs Pickard added.

“We have lived in Trowbridge all this time and we thought we would like to do something to demonstrate how much we love the town and how to leave a legacy.”

Mr Adabashi said the group of volunteers raise £1,300 towards the 45-metre border, which he hopes will be enjoyed by the town once it flowers in spring.

He added: “What I loved on the day was when I asked them what their secret was and Barbara just said, 'I look after him and he looks after me' and that is just priceless.

“The ceremony was one of the most touching occasions I have ever been involved with and once the flowers come out, the area will look absolutely gorgeous.”

“The floral border is just the start of a number of projects we are going to deliver in the coming months and years and the team of volunteers cannot do it alone and we really need extra members to help out.”

For more information about volunteering, email: f_o_t_p@yahoo.co.uk.