A CHANCE meeting at Stockbridge Town Hall has led to 70 years of happy marriage.

David and Ruby Cairns, who celebrated their platinum anniversary on Tuesday, first met in a moment of pure serendipity at a dance in Stockbridge.

David, who is originally from Glasgow, was in the army and based at Chilbolton Down.

He said: “Every Saturday night the army put a lorry on for the soldiers to go somewhere, and the majority then decided where they would go. So that night the majority decided to go down to Stockbridge Town Hall where there was a dance on. So I went down there and I met my wife dancing.”

Ruby’s original plans however was to go to Winchester with her cousin but a bus strike meant they went to the dance instead.

David, 92, said: “After we left I was walking her home and she said to me what age was I and I said I was 21, nearly 22 and she said yeah and the rest because I did look a lot older.

“So I took out my pay book and let her see my age on there so she turned the page and said ‘oh is that your name’ and I said ‘yes that’s my name, how would you fancy that?’

“So in actual fact I possibly proposed to her the first time I met her!”

The couple had to move back to David’s home of Glasgow for career reasons so decided to get married on a shoestring.

Luckily the week before the wedding David won £6.50 in a football pool, which was the equivalent of four week’s wages.

Ruby, 91, said: “ You bought the ring with it didn’t you?

“We wouldn’t have known what we had of done without it, have a curtain ring?!”

The couple, who now live in Holland Drive, got married at St Mary’s Church in Longstock on 27 March 1948 and had a small reception at the house Ruby lived at with her mother after the ceremony.

She said:”After the war things were very difficult for a while but someone I knew made us a cake. It was a lovely cake too. We didn’t have anything so we didn’t go over the top to try and do what we couldn’t afford. It was lovely.

“We started off with nothing but we always worked together and looked after the money and made sure we didn’t go into any debt.”

The couple have two daughters, four grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

They plan to celebrate their anniversary this weekend with a family meal at The Three Cups Inn at Stockbridge.

The couple say the secret to their long and happy marriage is “a lot of give and take”.