Couple celebrate 40 years behind the bar together
FOR most couples just dealing with married life is difficult enough but one Peacehaven pair have managed to combine 40 years of marriage with 40 years of working alongside each other.
Lyn and Jerry Dudeney met in 1962 when Lyn came for a barmaid's job at the Landsdown Arms, Lewes, where Jerry was landlord.
He had recently become the youngest licensee in the district, aged just 24.
He has been in pubs his whole life after being born in The Plough at Rottingdean which his parents ran.
Lyn and Jerry worked together for three years before they married on September 21 1968 at Lewes Reigister Office.
They gave themselves the shortest of honeymoons in Barnstable before taking over the Dew Drop Inn, Peacehaven, three days later.
The honeymoon is the last holiday the couple have been on.
Lyn said: 'It has been hard work but we have had a lovely time so we are not complaining.
'We haven't had a holiday since we've been here but it doesn't feel like we've missed out, holidays don't bother us.
'All the time we are fit and well we keep going, we have never even thought about leaving.
'We bought our two children up here, that was hard work, I remember one New Year's Eve my son John was screaming his head off, he was about six months old, I took him up to a customer and said you'll have to take him I've got to get behind the bar!'
Lyn and Jerry have two children, John, 39 and Jo, 34, who still live nearby, Jo with her two children James, seven, and Alex, three. Neither are following their parents into the pub trade.
Lyn said: 'I would not want them to, business has changed a lot since we came in the 60s, times have changed I would not like to be starting out now, I think we did it at the right time.'
On Sunday 21 regulars presented Jerry and Lyn with a digital radio, flowers and chocolates which they had bought to thank the pair for their hard work.
Lyn added: 'We had a lovely morning, they made a long speech all about us, it really made it a lovely day for us.
'We did not know anything was happening, it made us realise they're not customers, they are friends.'
Richard Clayton, a regular at the pub, said: 'It is an amazing achievement, they are very popular.'
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Weather for Hastings
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
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Sunny spells
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