Celebrating 60 years

Hamilton couple met at school

A Hamilton couple are happily proving love can last a lifetime after the childhood sweethearts celebrated 60 years of marriage.

Helen and Ian Watson first met as schoolchildren in Caldercruix at the tender age of eight in 1942 and quickly became good friends.

Romance eventually blossomed in later years while they both attended Airdrie Academy.

Ian left school at the age of 15 to serve an engineering apprenticeship with a manufacturer of papermaking machinery in Edinburgh, before being called up for his National Service with the RAF.

Helen, a farmer’s daughter, continued her studies at Airdrie Academy and, keeping a similar theme to Ian’s line of work, went on to work in Caldercruix paper mills as a shorthand typist.

Despite the miles between them, the pair kept in touch, ensuring the postman was busy with their regular exchanges and meeting up whenever possible for a Saturday night at the cinema.

Following Ian’s appointment as chief engineer at a Midlothian paper mill, he finally popped the big question and the couple were married in Caldercruix Parish Church, setting up home in the village of Currie.

Son William was born in 1961 and daughter Kathryn in 1964 and these were happy times, but the paper-making industry was in decline and so the family uprooted and moved to Hamilton in 1966. They settled in Balfron Crescent, where they remain to this day.

Helen and Ian are both now in their mid-eighties with four grandchildren in their twenties now added to the family – and as a result, they never have to look far for something to occupy their time!

And the couple welcomed an extra two visitors to their diamond wedding anniversary.

South Lanarkshire Provost Ian Mcallan brought them a scroll, card, whisky and flowers to mark the occasion, while Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Lanarkshire John Mckenzie presented them with a card sent from Buckingham Palace by the Queen.