LONG ROCK COUPLE CELEBRATE 35 YEARS OF MARRIED BLISS

Ethel and Madron Batten (both 56) are Long Rock born and bred and very proud of it, as indeed they are also hugely proud of the fact that neither of them has ever been further than 5 miles from Long Rock. As Madron says “there’s no place better, not even Trura, although I ebbent bin there!”

Proud of their Long Rock origins, Ethel likes, for obvious reasons, to keep quiet the fact that her great grandmother came from St Buryan. “She was orright really, bless ‘er soul. She couldn’t ‘elp it, could she? Some one ‘aev got to come from Burryan.”

Ethel makes wigs “fer bald ‘orses” and works from the comfort of the marital home, which is a handcrafted and lovingly maintained shed by the hedge in the field behind the house in Darlington Road with a swimming pool.

Madron is a proud man, who claims never to have taken a penny from the ‘soshul’ and has held down a wide range of jobs, from Lollipop man to pet shop owner to part-time scarecrow and air traffic controller (we are checking this last claim – Ed).

The much-loved couple are regarded as the social glue of Long Rock Society with Ethel being a mainstay of the local WI and acting as resident jam and cake judge for over 24 years.

For his part, Madron has held the title of ‘Mouse breeder of West Cornwall’ for forty years and he is known for always having a mouse or two secreted about his person. He calls the females “Kitty”, which he thinks is very witty, whilst all the males are known as “Little Willy”.

Madron had been the local Father Christmas for 30 years until his ill-advised proposal to offer extra sweeties to the kiddies, if they could find his “Little Willy”. Despite the widely accepted innocence of this idea, it was agreed that it was now perhaps high time time for the red coat to be handed on.

Incurious about life further up Cornwall, the blessed duo have no knowledge or interest in anything which takes place outside West Cornwall, let alone Cornwall itself or beyond Cornwall. Says Ethel, “Long Rock’s enough fer we and Ludgvan itself is almost too much!”

Two years ago they won a holiday to California but they gave it way. Says Madron, “We aren’t interested in Californee. P’zance is as far as wot we wunta go. We went there fer ar huneemum one afternoon 35 years ago. I got dizzy jes lookin at everythin’. We ad to come ‘ome in the evening as I couldn’ take no more."

Holding hands for the camera, this loving Long Rock couple declared that they were now well set for the next 35 years.