This year, residents of Tall Trees Caboolture Alan and Joyce Williams will be celebrating their 66th Valentine’s Day together.

The couple met on the Gold Coast when holidaying with family, only to discover they lived close to one another back home.

“For about two and a half years we were seeing each other, and we would go to the pictures every Saturday night,” said Joyce.

“In 1948 we got engaged and we married in a small church at Dinmore on 29 July 1950.”

They moved to Ebbw Vale in 1951 and left that family home in July last year.

“Moving to Tall Trees Caboolture was our first major move,” said Alan. As Joyce’s official carer, and facing the possibility of needing care himself, the couple looked for options.

Their experience is in line with results from the McCrindle Baynes 2011 village census conducted for villages.com.au. People often move to retirement villages because of financial, emotional and physical health, and are looking for safety and security as they age.

“After being in the same home for so long it was a big move, but we’ve made a lot of new friends, have new neighbours for the first time in years, and we’ve never looked back.”

An environment like Tall Trees enables senior couples to stay together in the later years of life even if, like Alan and Joyce, they require different levels of care.