Dundee couple Harry and Vera Grant are toasting 70 years of marriage.
They celebrate their platinum wedding anniversary today (Tuesday).
The pair, who also both had birthdays last week, will mark the special milestone with a small party at their son Alistair and daughter- in-law Diana’s home in Headley Hampshire with some friends and family.
Alistair revealed Harry, 93, and Vera, 90, met on a city bus.
Harry and Vera’s first date in Dundee
He said: “They were both just on their way home.
“They lived quite near to each other – dad lived in St Giles Terrace and mum lived in Macalpine Road, Dundee.
“Both families had newly moved to the area.
“Mum can’t remember who spoke first but she does remember that they went to the Palais Dance Hall on South Tay Street for their first date.”
Harry and Vera married on December 20, 1952 at Lochee West Parish Church and initially lived together in Marybank Lane, Lochee.
Harry is originally from the Hilltown area while Vera is from Lochee.
He attended Stobswell school and she was educated at Harris Academy.
Vera was working as a clerk for a small joinery firm when the couple were first married and worked on and off in various administration roles in between having their children.
She also worked for DC Thomson, Sidlaw Industries and latterly Aviva.
Meanwhile, Harry worked as a gardener at a private estate in Broughty Ferry before taking up a role as a jute mill manager with Sidlaw Industries.
Working for Sidlaw Industries in Dundee
He worked for Sidlaw for over 25 years, spending time at the various mills Sidlaw operated including Camperdown Mill in Lochee (which had the famous Cox’s Stack) and Manhattan Works in Dundonald Street.
He retired from a smaller family jute company in the mid 1980’s and started developing property with his wife, who retired from administration work, on a small scale.
The couple focused on developing small scale properties in Dundee and the surrounding areas of Newtyle, Alyth, Forfar and finally Brechin, buying properties in need of repair and fixing them up.
Couple lived in Dundee for over 55 years
Alistair said: “They lived in Dundee for over 55 years, starting their life as a couple in Lochee.
“Later they had two rented flats in Dock Street, which was where I was born in 1961, and bought their first house in Constitution Street about 1970.
“We lived there until 1977 when we had a year in Leslie near Glenrothes before returning to Jedburgh Road and then Blackness Road, Dundee.”
Harry and Vera moved to Brechin in 2003 and remained there until 2020 before they moved to live near Alistair, in Grayshott, Surrey.
The couple have three children and four grandchildren.
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