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‘Imagine being together for 60 years’: Dundee couple reveal the secret of a happy marriage

Dundee couple diamond wedding
Christine and Andrew Cochrane celebrate 60 years of marriage. Supplied

“I wasn’t enamoured,” laughed Christine Cochrane as she recalled the first time she met her husband.

“We met up the town somewhere. On Sunday nights you would just walk back and forward up the town,” the 83-year-old said.

“It’s what we did in those days because you didn’t have money to sit and drink.”

But despite Christine’s initial reaction, Andrew has now been her husband for 60 years.

Dundee couple diamond wedding
Christine and Andrew were wed in 1961. Supplied

And as the couple celebrate their Diamond Wedding, they have revealed the secret of their “very happy” marriage – work together.

Andrew approached Christine while she was on one of her Sunday night walks with friends.

“You know what they’re like when they’re that age,” she said.

But despite a less than stellar first impression, Andrew, who worked for Scottish Hydro, did win Christine’s heart.

And they are now celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

You’ve got to work together and that’s what we’ve done.

Christine Cochrane.

Meeting in 1957, the couple went steady for three years before Andrew popped the question.

“It was on Christmas day – he didn’t get on bended knee I’m afraid. It wasn’t very romantic,” she said smiling.

But Christine, a retired nurse, was so ecstatic to be engaged, that the couple were wed just eight months later.

“You don’t really do things like that these days,” she added.

Wedding at the Cathedral

The couple married at St Andrew’s Cathedral in the Nethergate on September 9, 1961, before celebrating with friends and family at a hall on Tay Street.

“It was a big occasion,” she recalled. “It was a grand celebration with lots of bridesmaids and family.”

The couple then set off to Arbroath on honeymoon, enjoying the coastal train journey to the seaside town.

Christine added: “I think diamond weddings are probably a thing of the past.

“When you tell young people they go ‘Oh dear, imagine being together for 60 years’.

“But they have been very happy years, very happy.”

Dundee couple diamond wedding
Christine said the key to a long marriage is sharing everything. Supplied

While the Covid pandemic has put plans on hold to celebrate her diamond wedding anniversary in Spain, Christine said she and Andrew, 83, will still have a small celebration together.

She said: “It’s a bit disappointing I can’t see my family right now – I have one daughter and a grandson and granddaughter. But we will still go out for a drive and maybe dinner to celebrate.”

Christine said the most important thing couples can do for a long marriage is to work together.

“If you don’t work together, it just doesn’t work.

“You’ve got to share everything – if they’re washing the dishes, you’re drying them.

“You’ve got to work together and that’s what we’ve done.”