MANY of us struggle to maintain our relationships and businesses, let alone when the two intertwine.

But Ann, 78, and Dennis Hume, 80, of Hume’s Bakery, are a prime example of how it can work.

In March they celebrate 55 years of marriage, followed by 57 years as business partners a day later on April 1.

Up until last September, they still lived above the bakery, meaning they spent almost every minute of every day together.

Now residing in Tiding’s Hill, the Humes are enjoying semi-retirement.

“I think we have more differences now than we did when we spent every minute together,” Mr Hume joked.

Mrs Hume added: “We literally were together 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To go to bed we would just go upstairs, you could roll out of bed in the morning and come downstairs to start the day.

“I think the love of what we were doing helped, I just loved every minute of it.”

The pair met when they both working at a bakery in Frinton, a summer job for Mr Hume at the time as he studied bakery in Cambridge.

Mr Hume opened Hume’s after leaving his father’s shops, also Hume’s, in Bures in 1960, Mrs Hume came along to lend a hand six months in, and they were married 18 months later.

Halstead Gazette:

Now, 55 years later, and the pair have overseen Halstead change, as well as the baking industry.

“It has completely changed,” said Mr Hume, although Mrs Hume disagreed.

He added: “It depends what you count as change, where Sainsbury’s is now, was the national bus park, the post office was a Congregational church and next door to us was a post office, with a telephone exchange upstairs.

“They were all small independent stores back then, and there must have been five or six bakers at the time”

Hume’s Bakery has had to change with the times as well, initially just selling break and cakes, Hume’s added sandwiches to the menu after a redevelopment in the Sixties, then their home-made pies and pasties 20 years later.

The key to making it click all this time? Mr Hume was once president of the National Association of Master Bakers, alongside a vital love for the trade, and a little help from a supportive High Street.

Mrs Hume said: “It has been fantastic and we are very proud, but it is down to our loyal customers on the High Street, without them we wouldn’t have had this success.

“We made friends across the country and travelled, that is down to the baking industry.”