Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Couple renew their vows... 60 years after tying the knot
Card from the Queen adds to occasion
Diamond couple Betty and Denis Cochrane enjoyed a glittering celebration to mark their 60th wedding anniversary.
The Airdrie residents were inundated with cards, gifts and good wishes from family, friends and neighbours on the special occasion – as well as being written to by royalty and renewing their marriage vows.
It was also a double celebration weekend, as the day after their anniversary was Betty’s 85th birthday.
She told the Advertiser: “We had a lovely celebration with all our family and friends. We went out for a meal and had a beautiful cake – and we received a card from the Queen which was a real surprise.
“We renewed our marriage vows at morning mass at St Margaret’s Church and at the end I also got up and recited a poem I’d written as a wee surprise for Denis, which everybody seemed to appreciate.
“Our house is full of cards and we’ve had so many lovely wishes from so many people.”
The happy couple met by chance when Denis headed on holiday to Betty’s home town of Bray in Ireland.
When his chosen accommodation proved to be overbooked, its owner asked her sister-in-law – who is Betty’s sister – to help out by providing an alternative place to stay.
They then kept in contact by said he’d like to come back to Ireland again to visit and it started again.”
Denis and Betty were married at Holy Redeemer Church in Bray on July 21, 1958, the day before Betty’s 25th birthday, and spent their honeymoon in Rome.
They then moved to Denis’ home town of Airdrie, living first in a room-and-kitchen at Mill Street before moving to their current happy home in Scott’s Place.
Betty added: “We’re the longest residents in the street, as we’ve lived here from the start – and we also had the first baby born here as our daughter, Denise, was born in the car park when I was on my way to hospital!”
The couple have three children, Matthew, Denise and Fiona, and six grandchildren.
Betty worked in a factory in her home town before moving to Airdrie, while Denis spent his career on the railways, working as a fireman on steam trains, based at Kipps in Coatbridge.
They celebrated their golden wedding a decade ago with a trip back to Lourdes, from where Denis sent the card which originally put the couple back in touch.
Denis formerly played indoor bowls at St Margaret’s and is a keen gardener, while Betty attends the over-60s club at the Airdrie church.
She added of their six happy decades of marriage: “We’ve never kept secrets and we have a great family who are wonderful, and we don’t know what we’d do without them.”