David and Marjorie Tilley, from Woolton, are celebrating their platinum wedding anniversary today (Tuesday, October 13), marking 75 years of marriage. The couple, aged 97 and 95 respectively, first met as teenagers while working at a cardboard box factory in their hometown of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
David recalled the moment he first saw his future wife, telling the ECHO: “Marjorie came in because she’d also got a job at the factory as a sample maker, and I just looked at her as she walked across the room and thought, ‘wow’, and I said to the fellow I was working with called Harry Chapman, ‘you see that girl over there? That's the girl I want to marry’. That was the first time I ever set eyes on her, and that was it straight off.”
Marjorie was 18 and David was 20 when they met, and it was David who made the first move, although he admits his early attempts were not always successful. He said: “I made a lot of moves, and most of them were unsuccessful.”
A first date at a cycle race
The pair gradually got to know each other, with Marjorie remembering David as a kind and understanding young man. She said: “I remember he was a very kind man. It wasn't love at first sight, but we got to know each other, and it just started. He was so kind, understanding, and helpful. And it's still the same. All these years later.”
Their first date was a little different from the traditional dinner or trip to the cinema, with keen cyclist David taking Marjorie to a cycle race meeting in Rockingham. The couple borrowed a bicycle to make the trip, with Marjorie happy to go along because she shared David's love of the outdoors. Marjorie said: “It was really a friendly date, more than anything else. I liked cycling, I liked the open air, so we suited each other.”
They married at a congregational church in Wellingborough in 1951, with a white wedding, bridesmaids, and a reception at the Cocoa Café. Although the day was rainy and money was tight in the post-war years, one memory has stayed with David ever since. He recalled how the Reverend Dalton Golding explained that the couple would walk down the church's two aisles together before coming out as one. David said: “That I remember him saying. And we've been one ever since.”
Building a life together
Life as a newly married couple was modest, with the pair initially renting rooms in a terraced house before saving enough to buy their first home in Wellingborough for £800. Their first house had no bathroom, and they had to go around the corner to use the toilet, while bathing meant using a tub in the kitchen. David said: “When we moved into our little terrace, we thought it was absolutely palatial compared to because it even had a bathroom.”
David's wages at the time were £6 and 10 shillings a week for a 45-hour working week. But the couple built a life together, welcoming three children, Bob, Hazel, and Lynne, and sharing a love of cycling, camping, and exploring the countryside.
One of their most memorable adventures saw them cycle from Wellingborough to Abergavenny in South Wales in a single day - a journey of around 140 miles - on a tandem bicycle fitted with a sidecar, with Bob and Hazel. They bought the unusual contraption for £14 and remembered how people in the towns and villages they passed would come out to see them and offer them things. David said: “People used to come out and see and give us things. In those days, and we're talking about the 1960s, the roads were quiet. There weren't any motorways. You didn’t go very fast unless you were going downhill.”
Moving to Liverpool
In 1959, the couple made the move to Liverpool after David secured a job at the Metal Box factory in Speke. He had been working as a carton machine operator in Wellingborough when an opportunity arose at the new factory, prompting him to write a letter applying for the job. The couple moved to Woolton just before Christmas that year and have lived in the same house on South Manor Way ever since.
David said they had never regretted the decision to move to Liverpool, where they were warmly welcomed by colleagues and neighbours. He recalled one colleague telling him he was a “natural Scouser” from the moment he arrived. David said: “We took to Liverpool straight away. We were so well received. When I got to the factory, I was scared stiff because it was a great big factory along Speke Boulevard, and then the fellows in there realised I was scared and they were so good to me at the factory, both the management and the staff. Everyone was nice, and we got on well. One of them said to me, ‘you're a natural Scouser from the moment you came in’.”
Marjorie also built a working life in the city, spending 10 years working in school meals while their children were young before going on to run a day care centre for people with mental health difficulties. The couple became part of the Woolton community and have continued to enjoy doing things together, from tending an allotment to going camping with their dog.
Even today, they still do their own shopping together, with David joking that they have become well known to local supermarket staff and taxi drivers. He even continued driving until he was approaching 96, before Marjorie gently suggested it was time to stop. David said: “She said, ‘you haven't hurt anybody, you haven't done any damage, but you're getting in everybody's way because you're too slow and too careful’.”
Enduring heartbreak and finding strength
But while their life together has been filled with adventures and happy memories, the couple have also endured the heartbreak of losing two of their three children. Their youngest child, Lynne, died from covid aged 64, while their eldest son Bob died in May this year aged 73. Their daughter Hazel, 71, remains a source of strength and support, who Marjorie described as their “tower of strength”.
The couple also credits their church community at St James's in Woolton Village with playing an important role in their lives, particularly during difficult times. Although Marjorie's eyesight now means they can no longer attend services in person, they still join a Sunday afternoon service by telephone. Marjorie said the church had become the family they had needed during times of illness and loss, adding that its members had always been there for them.
Asked what they are most proud of after 75 years together, Marjorie said it was raising their family, while David spoke about maintaining the home they love. And when it comes to the secret of a marriage that has lasted longer than seven decades, neither believes there is a complicated formula. Marjorie said: “There’s no secrets. I think the main thing is, we like each other. We've been together so long that we know what we're thinking before we say it, half the time. I can’t imagine us functioning without the other.”
David added: “We’ve done everything together. We’ve had an allotment together, worked together, and cycled and camped. You love each other, but you've got to like each other as well.”
The couple still spends much of their time talking together, reminiscing about their life and the memories they have made. David said 75 years had not felt as long as people might imagine, explaining that they have always enjoyed each other's company and never needed television to fill the silence. David said: “It's incredible, because apparently, we looked at the statistics, they tell us that only one couple in about 10,000 can make it. We often reminisce because We don’t watch television much because Marjorie can’t see the television now at all, so we do a lot of talking.”
Marjorie said: “I think we're part and parcel of. We can talk and converse with each other, whereas the television blocks out conversation.” Asked what her favourite thing about David was, Marjorie added: “The fact that he's loving and caring.”
The couple will mark their anniversary with Hazel, who is bringing a special cake. They have also received a congratulatory card from the King and Queen to mark their remarkable milestone.
