Brown marriage has been good as gold for 50 years

James and Margaret Brown, a Lothians couple who have travelled the world together, have celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.

The couple were married on 26 March, 1960 at Haddington Registry Office and, 50 years on, they were out in Haddington again for a party at the Golf Tavern.

Tranent-born James, 72, known as Jimmy, met his Haddington bride-to-be at the dancing at the local Corn Exchange in 1957.

The former Athelstaneford Primary and North Berwick High pupil was on leave from RAF Waddington, in Lincolnshire, where he was stationed as a forces cook.

Mrs Brown, 69, who attended St Mary's Primary and Knox Academy, was working as a dining room maid at Roodlands Hospital at the time.

She said: "He wasn't wearing his uniform that day. He was wearing one of his teddy-boy suits, midnight blue with drain-pipe trousers and a jacket with the quarter-moon pockets that were fashionable in those days. We got together as young boys and girls do."

The couple were married two-and-a-half years later, shortly after Mr Brown was demobbed from the RAF. Following the ceremony, the couple went with their family to Mrs Brown's mother's house for drinks.

After the birth of their first child, Audrey, later that year, Mr Brown re-enlisted in the RAF and was soon posted to RAF Scampton, in Lincoln.

Mrs Brown went to join him when she became pregnant with their second child, Christopher, in early 1961, and the couple spent the next 12 years travelling.

Margaret added: "We were originally supposed to be heading to France, but this was changed at the last minute and we ended up in Tripoli, in Libya, where we spent the next three years.

"We had a great time. I used to think the desert was all yellow but there was a lot of green in North Africa, and we used to spend our days by the pool."

The couple's third child, Diane, was born in 1967 and, following a brief spell back in the UK at RAF Doncaster, the family moved to West Germany.

Mrs Brown said: "We were stationed near the border with Holland and it was lovely, although the winters were very cold. We used to take boat trips up the Rhine and I collected lots of photos."

Mr Brown finished his RAF career at RAF Turnhouse. They had their fourth child, David, in 1972.

Their children have blessed them with ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild, with a second on the way.

"I think the secret of a long and happy marriage is to stay honest to each other," said Mrs Brown. "If you have any problems, talk them through and don't hide anything.

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