UNI BRINGS LOVE GENERATIONS OF
Bride follows in parents’ footsteps by finding romance while
TWO generations from the same family fell in love and got hitched after both meeting at university – almost 30 years apart.
Ian and Tania Williams met in 1985 while living next door to one another when they both studied at university in Hull.
On their first meeting, Tania confidently told her roommate she’d tame “boisterous” moustachioed Ian and the pair started dating before marrying in 1989.
Cupid’s arrow struck again for their daughter Gemma when she met Tom Malone in 2013 in her halls of residence kitchen as he nursed a hangover.
Bonding over a mutual love of America, US-born psychology student Tom and American studies student Gemma hung out as friends before they started dating in 2014. In a case of history repeating itself, Gemma and Tom, both 29, got hitched in October – 34 years after Ian and Tania said “I do”.
Conceding that Hull isn’t renowned as being the capital of romance, the happy couples now say the “scruffy but now cosmopolitan” city has a special place in their hearts.
Gemma, from Mold, Flintshire, said: “My parents never really thought that I would find love in Hull. They thought it would be fun – they just wanted me to have a good time.”
Supermarket supply planner Gemma met IT consultant Tom as they hung out in the shared kitchen at The Lawns complex in Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire. What started out as friendship blossomed into romance and after dating long-distance while Gemma studied a year abroad and Tom studied for a master’s in Manchester, the pair got engaged in 2021.
They were married at Ruthin Castle in Denbighshire on October 14 last year.
Gemma said: “We met on the first day in the kitchens. All the hall had gone out for a night out. I don’t drink so I couldn’t pluck up the courage to go out.
“He was nursing a very bad hangover, it was a friendship at first that developed into romance.
“My mum and dad never tried to push me in one way or another [going to the University of Hull]. We were looking at courses online, I liked America so found American studies, and Hull was one of the ones that did it. It was just a coincidence that my mum and dad went there. I really like the campus of the uni, there’s lots of cultural things to do there. I find Hull’s got a lot of hidden gems.
“Hull is a great place to make memories. It’s good to give it a chance, you need to visit to fully see it. It has a reputation but since my parents were there in the ’80s it’s vastly improved.”
Tom said: “It’s funny how life repeats itself and it means a great deal to her, she’s very family-oriented and it was a fairly big deal and something she’s intensely proud of. It’s something that she celebrates – that we’re going down the same route as her parents.”
Immunisation nurse Tania, 56, read modern Dutch studies when she went to Hull in 1985. It was while socialising with her neighbours she met physics student Ian, now 58.
Tania, from Sychdyn, Flintshire, said: “We lived in the houses next door to one
another on Cottingham Road in Hull, that’s how I met Ian. I thought he was older than he was when we met, he was only 20 but he had a moustache. I quite liked his sense of humour. He was quite obviously a single man, he was quite boisterous. I said to my roommate ‘I can tame him’.
“I offered to make him Welsh cakes and in return he took me out for a drink. It took him six years to get his Welsh cakes.”
The pair started dating in November 1985, got engaged in 1988 and married on November 11, 1989.
Tania said: “We could never have imagined Gemma meeting her future husband there and history repeating itself. It’s like something out of a film. Hull has a special place in our hearts. We went back for Gemma’s graduation and it’s changed an awful lot.
“It was quite scruffy when we were there, it’s much nicer now than it was in our day. They’ve done much more redevelopment and it’s much more cosmopolitan now.”
Senior SCADA engineer Ian said: “We’ve been married 34 years, we’ve had a very happy marriage. When we were there it was like an old black and white Yorkshire film. When Gemma was there it was in colour – so vibrant and full of life – completely different from when we were there.”
A University of Hull spokesperson said: “We are always delighted to hear about couples like Gemma and Tom and Gemma’s parents Tania and Ian – who met on campus and for whom Hull has played such an important part in shaping their future together.
“Whether our students meet in freshers’ week or just before finals, in student accommodation or in the students’ union, it’s great when they share their story and the fond memories they have of Hull and the university. The city and campus have a special place in the hearts of our graduates, and it’s wonderful – in this case – that this has been passed on to the next generation.”