A LITTLE more than 15 years ago Claire Benson was looking for love after the collapse of a bad marriage and placed an advertisement in the Chronicle's 'Partners' Column'.
A couple of bad dates later the South Woodham Ferrers single mother-of-six received a call from HGV driver Colin and in just six months the pair were married.
On Saturday the couple marked 15 happy years of marriage with their large family gathered in the garden at Ormonds Crescent, proving this newspaper's old lonely hearts page did work.
"I had a bit of a bad marriage and coped on my own for a couple of years.
"Then I did a counselling skills course and we had to set ourselves a goal to achieve – mine was to get a husband and that gave me the confidence to put the ad in," said Claire, now 50.
"I had a few responses and met two other blokes and then I went on a Sunday lunchtime with Colin for a drink at the pub down the road – we were married within six months."
Recently divorced and looking for love, Colin, 49, had never responded to an advertisement before when he left a message for Claire in November 1998.
"I'm not very good on my own, so thought I would try my luck," he said, while cooking up a BBQ for his family on Saturday afternoon.
"It was the first advert I had responded to and the first woman I had met so I got really lucky – we just seemed to hit it off well."
Although when Colin, previously from Wickford, learned of Claire's sizeable brood he admitted he was slightly "taken aback".
"I remember there was one time when he brought them £5 of pick n' mix from Woolies, which was a real treat for them as I was a single mum, and it was gone within minutes," added Claire, who now works at Asda.
The pair credit their happy marriage with a love of family and a shared interest of taking caravanning holidays around the country.
"And the fact that he works night shifts and I work during the day, so we don't see each other very much," joked Claire.
Joining the couple in their back garden were children Oliver, Abigail, Ben, Tom, Emily and Zoe with their partners, and Claire's mother Ruby Witham.
"How many people would have the courage to take on six kids? Or who would be mad enough?" said Ruby, from Crainham.
"I couldn't ask for a better son-in-law, not if I had chosen him myself."
