A COUPLE who 'escaped' to Australia for a tenner 31-years-ago celebrated their golden wedding in the sunshine city of Adelaide.

And Maurice Webber, brother of Down Under former Blackburn gravedigger Christopher, phoned from East Lancashire to say: 'G'day.'

Christopher and his wife, Mary, left Blackburn for Melbourne with six children in 1965 and soon welcomed a seventh youngster, Catherine, to the flock.

The couple, who married at St Anne's Church, Blackburn, originally lived in Melbourne, but later moved to be with their children in Adelaide.

Maurice, now 67, and his late wife, Jean, had been due to emigrate with the rest of the family under the Government's £10 Assisted Emigration scheme. But a health bombshell meant the authorities would not grant them citizenship.

Maurice, of Peel Close, Blackburn, said: "We had sold our house and were all ready to go out with them. But my wife suffered from heart problems at the time and they wouldn't accept us. It couldn't be helped."

Maurice worked at the McDougall Rose decorating supplies company until retirement.

He added: "They did really well for themselves out there. It's hard to believe that Christopher was a lowly gravedigger at Pleasington Cemetery before he went.

"When he retired he was a manager at the Courage Brewery."

Maurice and Christopher have kept in regular contact through telephone calls, letters and visits over the years and are still as close as they ever were.

Maurice added: "I remember running them to Preston for the train to London.

"It doesn't seem like thirty years ago."

Several East Lancashire relatives have made the trip to Adelaide for the family celebration and joined Christopher and Mary's children Theresa, Barbara, Sheila, Martin, Christopher, Catherine, Tony and 16 grandchildren to celebrate.

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