STOWMARKET: Talk about customer loyalty!

When Les and Mary Coltart wanted some flowers to celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary, they thought where else to go than the shop that prepared their wedding bouquet 40 years previously.

So they went back to Edelweiss, a florist in Stowmarket that opened at about the same time, and asked for a special button hole and corsage for their anniversary party.

The florist, Isabel Wilton, had come up with a stunning bouquet four decades before for the wedding at Bacton Church and produced some more beautiful flowers this time around.

Mrs Wilton added: “They came in last week and ordered a button hole and a corsage for their ruby wedding and I had actually made Mrs Coltart’s wedding bouquet 40 years ago. They were one of our first wedding customers and they are Stowmarket people. They had a party to celebrate and we gave them some flowers too.

“It’s an illustration of very loyal customers and they very kindly bought in their wedding album for us all to see.”

The Coltarts lived in Stowmarket when they were first married but now live in Stowupland. Mrs Coltart, 60, is now semi-retired after running a hair salon, Mary Alison, for many years and Mr Coltart, 64, will end work at PPG, formerly ICI, later this week.

Mrs Coltart said: “That was part of the celebration too. It was my idea to get the flowers there. We got a lovely button hole and a corsage and the staff were very kind.

“It has all been a bit overwhelming, really.”

The couple have two children, Richard, 29, and Laura, 27, and both live close by.

At their anniversary party, rather than ask for any gifts the caring couple asked people to give donations to the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices Treehouse Appeal, which is aimed at funding a new hospice for sick children in Ipswich.

Amazingly, guests managed to donate a fantastic �1,000 for the charity.

n Are you celebrating a special milestone event? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.