Scarborough couple celebrate Platinum anniversary after meeting as teenagers in 1946

Gordon and Mary Bird met at a dance at Olympia Ballrooms in 1946. The pair were 18 and 16 respectively and a relationship quickly blossomed.

They got married two years later on 20 November at Holy Trinity Church in Scarborough.

Gordon, now 90 years old, was born near Beverley and moved to Scarborough at the age of eight to help his parents at High Deepdale Farm.

He later started working as a joiner and wheelwright on the premises currently occupied by Cundall and Duffy Vets’ Practice and helped build many houses for Shepherd Homes before spending 38 years as a coach builder at Plaxton.

Mary, 88, was born at the family’s pet shop on 7 Gladstone Road. She spent most of her working life as a Family Clerical Officer and latterly as a doctor’s receptionist on Falsgrave Road, where she worked for over 16 years.

After retiring, the couple have been devoting their time to their hobbies. Gordon enjoys angling, wood turning and looking after his garden, and Mary enjoys flower arranging, painting and crafts and running classes at Crossgates Community Centre.

Mary said: “Me and my husband would like to say how much we love and appreciate our family; daughter Ann and her partner Jim and son Alan and her wife Sue who together cannot do enough for us.

“We enjoy loving support also from our siblings and our grandchildren whom we are very proud of.

“Daniel is a Child Care Officer at Brompton Hall School and Hayley is a veterinary surgeon at Cundall and Duffy Vets’ Practice. Ironically she works in the very same room where her grandfather started his working life!”

Mary and Gordon’s recipe for a long, happy marriage is to give and take, resolve each other’s differences without falling out and always love, care and share.

The couple’s son, Alan, his wife Sue and grandchildren Daniel and Hayley have this message for them: “Congratulations on this incredible milestone anniversary. We all treasure you and love you so much.”