Even Longer Married Alumni Couple!

We think that Paul and Caroline (nee de Vries) Skinner may qualify as the one of the longest if not the winners.

Paul (Lonsdale) and Caroline (Bowland) both studied French and met at Lancaster in 1965 when the University was based in St. Leonards Gate and married in 1968. They now live in Northamptonshire.

Paul worked in leather sales until he retired in 2007 and is now a volunteer driver for the Guide Dogs.

Caroline has increasing blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa. She is training her fourth guide dog. She is Secretary of the local blind club and a speaker for Guide Dogs. As part of international efforts to find a treatment or cure for retinitis pigmentosa, Caroline was one of six candidates in Oxford selected for a trial tiny electronic retinal implant two months of visual awareness. Channel 4's film "How to build a bionic man" shown this year featured Caroline and the operation and her hopes that this will help future generations.