An Aberdeen couple celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last night at Deeside Care Home.
Beryl and David Steele will officially mark their blue sapphire anniversary on March 19.
Staff at the home threw a surprise party, which was also attended by a surprise guest, Aberdeen’s Lord Provost.
The married couple couldn’t hide their surprise when their old Mannofield next-door neighbour, David Cameron, emerged to wish them a happy anniversary.
Having lived on the same street for many years in western Aberdeen, the trio caught up on old times.
The city’s lord provost said: “This anniversary is a fantastic achievement for them.
“We were next door neighbours for a time although I wasn’t aware it was them when the invite came through to me.
“I love doing these events, however this one is extra special today because I’ve known the couple for so long”.
Deeside Care Home throw anniversary party
The couple’s two daughters were also at the party. They presented the happy couple with gifts, as the wider family also gathered to enjoy the occasion.
Being married back in 1959, the couple said they say that “can’t imagine being apart now”.
Speaking to the P&J before the festivities got under way – David, 86, revealed his advice to the younger generation in order to keep a happy marriage.
He said: “We have always been a partnership since the beginning.
“We have always been an equal team, that’s the secret”.
David met Beryl, 85, who was working as a secretary, when he was only 17 in Aberdeen’s beach ballroom, where he plucked up the courage to ask her for a dance.
Secret romance to eventual marriage
He joked the chance meeting only occurred when “nobody else would have him.”
He later admitted he was “just glad that someone went up to have a dance,” and romance blossomed from there.
Subsequent dates followed around the Granite City, while keeping the partnership a secret from their families.
However, the truth was revealed when David, an architectural college student, was caught treating Beryl to dinner at the old Monkey House on Union Street – which is now Chaophraya Thai restaurant.
His father, a bus driver in Aberdeen, caught wind of the romance after seeing them both meeting there.
Some time after, David then received an offer from Herriot Watt College to study civil engineering in Edinburgh.
Since the two couldn’t be parted, a “very quiet” marriage followed at Holburn West Parish Church – so that Beryl could accompany him.
They would spend a number of years in the capital before moving back up to Mannofield in Aberdeen due to homesickness, where they went on to have two daughters, Gillian and Allison.
While Beryl raised the young girls, David went on to have a long and “enjoyable” career as a architecture lecturer in the Granite City.
Surrounded by friends and family, yesterday’s blue sapphire anniversary milestone celebration was deemed a success.
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