On 14th March, charter member Ian Knight and his wife Genny celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. This is a monumental milestone which deserves the heartiest of congratulations. They plan to celebrate the occasion with a dinner with family and then they will board the Queen Elizabeth ship for a cruise around New Zealand.

Not only is their anniversary a major achievement, they also share a rather unique coincidence. Genny Knight (nee McIntosh) was born in Melbourne on 11th October 1936 and Ian Knight was born 4 days later, also in Melbourne. Their birth notices appeared beneath each other in The Argus newspaper on the same day in October 1936. They were obviously made for each other.

Twenty-three years later they walked down the aisle at St Cuthbert's Church, Brighton, having met through family friends at 16 years of age.

This unusual coincidence attracted the attention of Ross and John on Radio 3AW who rang Ian and Genny to talk about it. Click here to listen to the interview. 

Ian has been a member of the club since its inception in 1968 which means that he and Genny have been involved in Rotary for a significant part of their marriage. Ian explained that, when the club was started, he became the Charter Secretary and Genny wrote up all the minutes of the Board meetings for the next 3 years. What a team!

The couple has also hosted 9 Rotary exchange students in that time which, Genny says, has enriched their lives as well as those of their children. In fact, the program had such a profound impact on their daughter Sue that she eventually became an exchange student to Japan in 1981.

Here is a copy of Ian and Genny's birth notices.