Couple reveal secret to 65-year marriage is being friends and always having plenty to talk about
A couple who have been married for 65 years say the secret to a long and happy marriage is being friends and always having plenty to talk about.
David and Margaret Matthews have been married for more than six decades - but they say they’ve yet to run out of topics to chat about.
The pair met after a night of dancing at a labour club back in 1954, and have not spent a day apart since.
Margaret noted that relationships were different back then, and said she might never have met her husband if they had mobile phones to distract them.
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The 84-year-old, from St Helens in Lancashire, said: “You have to talk to each other - it’s the only way to stick together for a long time.
“In those days, when I first met David, we used to go dancing at the labour clubs.
“One day I was waiting for the bus and he happened to be there and we got to talking.
“It was 1954 and a year later we were married.
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“We’ve always been able to talk and like any couple there are ups and downs but we never shied away from letting each other know how we felt.
“It’s odd because I thought everyone was like that but whenever I speak to people they seem surprised.
“The secret to a long marriage is a cup of tea and a natter.”
The couple married at St Peters Church in Parr, Lancashire, on May 28th, 1955.
They have three children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Margaret, who worked as a cleaner at St Helens Hospital before retiring, suggested the reason her marriage to former miner David, 88, has lasted the test of time is because they are friends as well as partners.
She said: “It keeps it interesting, even now I'll say something to him and he’ll tell me it’s the first time he’s ever heard that story.
“We never run out of anything to talk about and I love him for it.
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“Now and again I do enjoy the gossip though.
“It’s a different world today even with relationships.
“With phones and facebook I think people are communicating less, funnily enough.
“I’m glad I didn’t have facebook back then, maybe I’d have been glued to my phone at that bus stop and never met David.
“But I’m so grateful to have met David. He’s alright isn’t he?”
