For a pair of Dundee sweethearts, it was the love triangle which set them on the road to romance 65 years ago.
And as they raise a Hogmanay glass to their sapphire wedding anniversary, John and Phyllis Nicoll will also share a piece of their favourite chocolate treat.
Because Toblerone has never been far from their lips after love blossomed across the famous chocolate bar’s production line in the city’s former Keiller factory.
Phyllis (nee Meek) worked on the chocolate moulds at the Mains Loan factory and teenager John was an almond crusher and finished product packer.
Despite Phyllis being four years John’s senior, the young man instantly recognised he had found his true love.
“Even though I was just a teenager, I knew she was the one for me,” said 83-year-old John.
Married during John’s National Service
They married after John was given a special break from National Service and have enjoyed a devoted and happy life together since.
The couple have two children, Carol and Johnny, five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Coronavirus restrictions mean the 65th anniversary celebration will have to be a quiet affair.
But they will look back with fondness over the decades of wedded bliss – and open a bar of what will always be their top sweet treat.
“Toblerone is still my favourite and there’s always a bar in the house,” said John, who went on to work in Dundee’s weaving industry as well as having spells as a milkman and taxi driver.
“Our family are very good to us. They are very supportive, and have been especially through all of this.
“They are now scattered around a little bit so we won’t be able to have a family party, but they are very good at keeping in touch through face time and things like that which is lovely for us.”
Phyllis, 87, trained as a nurse after leaving the sweet factory and worked at Strathmartine Hospital.
The couple are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Dundee’s Bingham Terrace.
Phyllis is a keen geneaologist and has traced the family tree all the way back to the 1700s, while father and son John and Johnny share a lifelong devotion to Dundee United.
Fond of travelling at home and abroad
An active couple with a love of travel, they holidayed in Ibiza last year.
John said the secret to a long and happy marriage was “sharing everything and being true to each other”.
“Phyllis has been good to me all these years and we have a lovely family.
“I appreciate all she has done and I do my best to look after her,” he said.
John and Phyllis have lived at numerous addresses across Dundee but are now settled on Clepington Road, not far from where they first met and fell in love.
Dundee firm was Britain’s biggest sweet maker
Once the biggest confectionery firm in Britain, the Keiller factory had a workforce of nearly 900 in its heyday.
Alongside sweets, it also produced the firm’s famed Dundee marmalade.
But its final owners went bust in the early 1990s and the once bustling plant was sold off before eventually being bulldozed in 2018.
