Bo’ness husband and wife celebrate 65 years of marriage

Margaret and Len Bennett will celebrate their Blue Sapphire wedding anniversary on Wednesday, October 28, with a trip to Len’s favourite place in Scotland - Perth.

The pair met in 1958 through mutual friends, and after going on an unofficial double date Margaret, who’s from Edinburgh, said their relationship “just went off from there”.

They were then married in Leith on October 28, 1961 when they both were 20 years old.

Len began his working life as an apprentice at the old BHC in instrumentation. He then spent around ten years working for BP, and also spent time working in Fort William, where he and Margaret lived for a few years.

Len returned to BP once more before retiring in his mid-50s.

He was also an ordained pastor and spent time in churches in the Falkirk district, Edinburgh, and Musselburgh.

Margaret worked as a shop assistant before marriage, but she always had the dream of becoming a nurse.

After becoming a mother, she completed a course on nursing and worked at Falkirk Royal, now known as Falkirk Community Hospital, for a few years.

Margaret said: “I really enjoyed it, it was a dream that I had. I never thought I was going to make it, but I did.”

She then went on to work as a warden in a sheltered housing complex in Bo’ness, a job she held for 12 years.

The pair became parents when their son, Keith, was born. Five years later, when the family lived in Fort William, their daughter Fiona arrived. The couple also took Margaret under their wing when she was a teenager, and she was welcomed into the family.

The couple have travelled around the world, with trips to Peru, Brazil, and Australia bringing them fond memories.

Margaret believes the secret to a successful marriage lies in a give and take attitude.

She said: “It’s got to be worked for, like everything else. You’ve got to come and go, don’t always agree but sometimes it’s better to agree to disagree.”