Still laughing after 50 years - former mayor and mayoress of Islington celebrate Golden Wedding

Published: 27 August 2010
by PETER GRUNER

PENSIONERS Joe and Jean Trotter – former mayor and mayoress of Islington – will celebrate 50 years of marriage this weekend by demonstrating their recipe for happiness – “having a good laugh”.

The popular couple, who live on the seventh floor of a tower block in City Road, Angel, believe there is nothing better than having a giggle about the inanities of life.

They married at St James Church, in Prebend Street, on September 3 1960, after meeting four years earlier at Viota, a cake mixture firm at Islington Green, where they both worked.

Proud council tenants, they have lived on the seventh floor of Peregrine House for 40 years, enjoying some of the best views in the borough. “People have asked us how we could stand living in London,” said Jean, 72, a retired swimming teacher who still does 450 metres three times a week at Cally Pool. “But we love it here. Everyone knows us and says hello. Joe can’t go anywhere without someone thinking he’s still a councillor.”

The couple have two grown-up sons and three grandchildren, who all live outside the borough.

A former Labour supporter, Joe, 74, was Lib Dem councillor for Bunhill for 24 years before retiring four years ago. Jean was formerly a governor at Clerkenwell Parochial School. 

They became mayor and mayoress in 2001-2002, when they raised £25,000 for Dial a Dream, a charity for sick children. Joe’s father, also called Joe, was a socialist who went on to become a founding father of Finsbury Labour Party. He was Mayor of Finsbury in 1959.

Tonight (Friday) the couple will go as usual to their favourite Fish Central in King Square, Finsbury, with friends, and tomorrow (Saturday) it’s off to Fredericks restaurant, in Camden Passage, Angel, with family. On Sunday they will have their marriage blessed at St Clement Church in King Square, Finsbury.