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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Sarah Scott

East Belfast couple on the secrets of lasting love as they celebrate 70th wedding anniversary

With their arms around one another as they sit side by side on their sofa, Stanley and Eileen Truesdale playfully bicker over who actually proposed when they got engaged.

The pair are now both 90 and later this month will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary, a day many thought they would never see as Stanley's health was poor and his family didn't think he would make it past his teens.

"We are amazed really because Stanley wasn't to live to he was 13, his heart was so bad but there he is, torturing me yet ," Eileen told Belfast Live from her home in East Belfast.

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"When we got engaged Stanley's mum told me not to and my mum agreed with her but I said I don't care, we we are getting married. We have had our ups and downs but it's been a very happy life."

Stanley joked: "I just live to torture you.."

So despite family warning against the marriage due to Stanley's health, the pair have gone on to defy the odds and are now surrounded by their own loving family.

"He is a miracle," said Eileen.

It was back in 1945 when the pair met at the age of 14 at Beersbridge Road Elim Church and by 1950 they were engaged but it wasn't all smooth sailing to get to that point.

When asked if it was love at first sight, Eileen laughed and said "not really". "I didn't like his trousers, the colour of his trousers, I thought, I don't like him," she added.

But after a couple of months the pair started to "go together", despite the fact that Stanley initially had eyes for Eileen's friend.

"Really he was after my friend instead of me, then he changed. We started chumming about together, there was four of us went about together and then gradually we paired off."

Stanley, a gents outfitter by trade who ran G.S. Truesdale Gents Outfitters on the Ravenhill Road for 18 years, added: "She knew she was on to a good thing."

The pair were 20 when they tied the knot on August 23, 1952, in the Ulster Temple on the Ravenhill Road. The wedding was a very different affair to what we see now with the reception at the Imperial Hotel on Royal Avenue costing 12 shillings and 6 pence per head for their 60 guests, the equivalent of 65p.

Although their memories are now hazy of the day itself, Eileen remembers her own father giving off because he had to wear a white shirt for the occasion as he "wasn't used to dressing up".

Talking about the difference between weddings then and now, Eileen said the difference was stark. "Once the meal was over everyone went home in our day but there was no entertainment or anything then," she said.

Stanley added: "It was a simple life, there was nothing exciting, the main thing was you had a home of your own and good employment, you had a good job and that was it, you were content."

The couple honeymooned in Dublin, which Stanley pointed out in those days was not something everyone could afford. Eileen’s father bought and furnished their first house in Holywood for £100 as a wedding gift.

They went on to have three children together, Marilyn, born in 1953, Alan born in 1958 and Sharon born in 1964. But the pair suffered heartache in their life together with the death of their eldest daughter Marilyn, who was disabled.

"She died so sudden, at 28, we didn't expect it but we pulled through, the Lord helped us," said Eileen.

Their faith in God and involvement in church has played a huge role in their lives together as well as having a devoted family around them. They now have five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

On the secret to a long and happy relationship, the pair said it all came down to partnership and sticking together, through the good and bad.

"We live for each other, we are always saying, you never see one without the other, that's the way it is," said Eileen.

Stanley added: "We love each other and we are attached to each other and I don't do anything unless Eileen and me decide to do it, everything is a double act.

"I think that is what is wrong with today's marriage, the man maybe goes down for a beer and the wife sits in with the children, but with us we are always together. Wherever you saw one of us you saw the other. I think that is the secret of a happy marriage, stay together.

"She loves me that much she puts up with me."

When asked what she loves about Stanley, Eileen said: "To me he is the best person in the world, he is my life. I couldn't live without him. No matter where we go we are together."

The pair will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary with a family celebration in Portavogie later this month.

VIDEO CREDIT: Harry Bateman

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