A YORK couple are celebrating 65 years of marriage together.

Norman and Margaret Pearson, who are 87 and 88 respectively, celebrated their 65-year wedding anniversary on March 30.

The pair met at a dance in Gate Helmsley after Margaret, who was living in Norton, got on a bus with friends to attend the event.

READ MORE:

Norman, who was working in Malton at the time, was also attending the same night school where the pair studied shorthand and got to know one another better after their first meeting. Norman asked a colleague - who lived at the bottom of Margaret’s street - to swing by her house and give her the date and time of their next date. 

The pair were engaged at the age of 21 and married on Easter Weekend, the day before Margaret’s 23rd birthday, at St Peters Church in Norton in 1959 and went on to celebrate their honeymoon in London.

They now live together in Stamford Bridge where Norman has spent 74 years as an active member of Stamford Bridge Cricket Club (including 42 years as Club Secretary and 23 years as 1st XI Captain) and he continues to serve as the President of their Football Club.

They even scheduled a 10.30am wedding because Norman’s Old Malton St Mary’s FC could have made a cup final that would be held on that very afternoon.

York Press: Norman and Margaret Pearson on their wedding day in 1959Norman and Margaret Pearson on their wedding day in 1959 (Image: Provided)

Over their lives, both Norman and Margaret have found a sense of community through sport with Margaret helping make food for matches that Norman was playing in and the pair helping international cricketers, from Australia to Jamaica, find their feet in the UK.

Even after 65 years of marriage and the bus ride to a dance becoming a weekly trip to Sainsburys, their love and commitment to each other has remained just as strong.

Margaret said: “We’re both quite lucky being together still.”

In celebration of their milestone anniversary, they received a message of congratulations from the King and Queen which will be displayed alongside their Diamond Anniversary message from the late Queen in 2019.

They celebrated their big day quietly with their two children and three grandchildren.