Couple who worked together stay together for 70 years

George and Betty Cliff, both 90, were born and brought up in Sheffield and worked together in the family business they ran in the city’s Staniforth Road for several decades.

Before setting up his business Mr Cliff served as an engineer in the RAF and went to France five days after D-Day, working his way through Belgium and Holland.

When he returned to his wife in Sheffield, they set up G.Cliff and Sons, and lived above the joinery and hardware business, which thrived carrying out work “flushing” interior doors using hardboard to hide panels.

The couple were joined by some of their seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren at their home in Aston, near Rotherham, yesterday afternoon for a party in their honour.

Their son-in-law, Jim Gale, who lives with his wife Sue in a house next-door to the couple, said they were still “full of stories” about their life in South Yorkshire.

He said: “George is from the Hillsborough end of Sheffield and Betty comes from Attercliffe and they have strong memories of the city as it was.

“The whole family is very proud of them and the fact that they have been married for so long.”