I met Margaret on New Year’s Eve in 1970. I was visiting a friend to bring in the New Year and when I arrived I was informed that he was at his neighbour’s house having a drink. I knocked on the neighbour’s door and was welcomed in by who was soon to be my mother-in-law. It was then that I was introduced to Margaret (my wife) and I invited her to join us for the New Year celebrations. She was beautiful and funny and I fell in love with her after our first few dates. Only three months later and we decided to get married in the autumn. We married in St. Leonard’s Church in September 1971.

Margaret gave birth to our first child Paul in 1974. Our second child Nicola was born in 1980 soon followed by Debbie in 1981. Marriage in the early years was hectic with three small children and we also looked after our parents who were somewhat dependent on us. Despite some difficult times Margaret and I have always had a positive outlook on life. With her patience and our humour nothing seems to faze us.

We have recently celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and can’t quite believe how quickly time has gone by. Margaret has supported me one hundred per cent throughout the years and she has done a great job of bringing up our children who have each become very successful in their careers.

I began my own career as a welder and metal polisher before joining a company manufacturing light construction equipment as a salesman. I was promoted over the years and finally became the Regional sales manager for Scotland and North of England. I was the top salesman for the company for many consecutive years and was often sent on trips to America to promote the business. In 1999 Margaret was keen to go back to education and gained a computing degree. Soon after she gained employment in a bank and within12 months was promoted to Bank manager. For the past ten years she has gone from strength to strength, while I have started to wind down for retirement. In 2009 I retired after 50 years of working. Retirement was a shock to begin with as I have been in employment since the age of 15. However, enjoying life without work did not take long and before I knew it I was tending to the garden and growing my own fruit and vegetables. I have also taken up my passion for painting and the children are now fighting over who wants what oil painting to hang in their homes. Margaret decided last year to go part time and we have loved having quality time together. We are both passionate about gardening, painting and travelling the world and now is our time to do it. If I had to sum up the success to 40 years of marriage I would say: working together as a team, putting each other first and having a good sense of humour.