“He turned up to the pictures with this lovely suit on and this red tie and I always remember that,” said a Dundee woman on her 60th wedding anniversary.
Anne and Derak Jeffery first met at Christmas time in 1960.
Derak had come up from England as he was due to marry one of Anne’s neighbours.
“But they fell out and so he married me instead,” Anne said, laughing.
She added: “She was a lovely lady and we still keep in touch. Her parents even came to our wedding.”
Anne, who was a telephonist in Menzies, said she and Derak first properly met when he joined her and a group of friends first footing.
“You know what it’s like,” she said.
“Him and his mates wanted to come round with us doing our first footing.
“We said no, no you ain’t coming with us. But they tagged along with us anyway and we got married the following September.”
First date
Anne said she still remembers the first time she met up with Derak as a couple.
“We’d go on the Monday night to the pictures and always just wait to see who’d turn up to see who you were going with,” she recalled.
“You know what’s stupid? He turned up with this lovely suit on and this red tie and I always remember that.
“It’s the daft things.”
Derak wore a red bow tie to the couple’s diamond wedding anniversary as a tribute to their first date.
Anne said she didn’t think Derak actually proposed in the traditional way.
“We used to speak about getting married. My friends and I played in the McLean’s ladies pipe band at the time.
“They used to ask him when are you two getting married. Things were different back in those days.”
She continued: “But I remember we were in this cafe we used to go to, up the Perth Road, and we had been talking about marriage.
“And he said to me ‘You put money in that Jukebox and you’ll find out when’.
“The song that came on was I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time.”
Meet me in the church
The couple agreed a date of September 23, 1961, and were married at the Mid Craigie church.
“We had a white wedding,” Anne recalled. “There was only 21 of us there, as that’s all we could afford. But we had all we wanted.”
The couple, who moved in to a room and kitchen in North Wellington Street, said there was little time to celebrate the marriage.
“We had the wedding on the Saturday and went right back to work on the Monday,” she said.
To celebrate 60 years of marriage, the couple held a party with 50 of their closest friends and family, including their four sons and 10 grandchildren.
“I can’t believe it’s been 60 years,” she added.
“I don’t think I’m an emotional person, but I can’t believe it’s been 60 years together.
“Derak always jokes that he worked away for 25 years and he always says ‘That’s why we’ve been together so long, I’ve worked away for half of it!'”.
Anne said the best advice for a long marriage is “not to want too much, too fast”.
She added: “When we were young we had nothing at all and I think you’ve just got to stick with it.
“I’ve spoken to kids today and they say oh we’re getting married and if it doesn’t work out we can divorce – it’s a terrible attitude to have.
“We could have all walked away, especially when the kids were younger and we had nothing, but you’ve just got to get on with it.”