Advertisement

Couple married for 75 years offers one simple piece of advice

A woman married for 75 years has revealed her one key piece of marital advice: never letting an argument go on longer than it has to.

Alison Snaddon, 91, met her husband Robert, 93, when she was 15 – at a dance hall in 1944.

The pair described their first meeting as “love at first sight”.

READ MORE: Newlyweds are now staying married longer than the Victorians

Robert Snaddon, 93, and wife Alison, 91, met at a dance in 1944. [Photo: SWNS]
Robert Snaddon, 93, and wife Alison, 91, met at a dance in 1944. [Photo: SWNS]

Alison said: “I was 15 and Robert was a couple of years older, we met at a dance at the Friendly Girls’ Club, when the town had a tea rooms.

“I was expecting somebody else to come but they were late coming in.

“I hadn’t met Robert before.

Robert, 93, and Alison Snaddon, 91, met when they were 15 and 17. [Photo: SWNS]
Robert, 93, and Alison Snaddon, 91, met when they were 15 and 17. [Photo: SWNS]

“He just came up to me and asked me to dance, and we got on and that was it - we hit it off.”

Robert added: “They had dancing on a Saturday night, and of course everyone went dancing.

“We went dancing as well, and that’s where we met.

“It was love at first sight.”

They married a year later, at which point Alison was pregnant with the pair’s first child.

Robert, 93, and Alison Snaddon, 91, are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary. [Photo: SWNS]
Robert, 93, and Alison Snaddon, 91, are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary. [Photo: SWNS]

As Alison was pregnant at the time of the wedding – scandalising her family – she wore a lilac dress and jacket rather than a white dress to the ceremony at St Mungo’s Church in Alloa, Clackmannshire - where the couple still worships.

The pair have raised four children together (three sons including one adopted, and a daughter) and are together three-quarters of a century after their wedding day.

READ MORE: Valentine's Day: Where did it come from and what's the real meaning?

And, as for relationship advice, Alison offered one simple mantra: “If you have an argument, get it sorted out - don’t carry it on.”

They celebrated their anniversary yesterday together at home, as they both suffering from diminished eyesight, hearing and mobility. They had initially planned to go out to celebrate, but had a change of heart and stayed in instead.

“No dancing,” joked Alison.