Former Denny policeman and wife celebrating 65th wedding anniversary

Bill and Nora Partridge, née Watt, are today marking their Blue Sapphire anniversary with a quiet but enjoyable day at home in Plean.

The duo, who are aged 89 and 85 respectively, previously called Falkirk district home when Bill worked as a policeman in Denny.

Nora, who is from Fraserburgh, met Bill, originally from Bannockburn, in the spring of 1952 when he was on leave from national service in the Scots Guards.

She took him to a ladies’ choice dance in Buchlyvie, where Nora had moved with her parents.

The couple were kept apart when Bill was posted to Egypt and didn’t meet again until he was demobbed in September 1953. Almost two years later, they married in South Church, Buchlyvie.

By that point, Bill had served in the Stirling and Clackmannanshire police force for two years.

After marriage, Nora gave up work in a hardware store to become a stay at home mother and take care of eldest daughter Maureen – a role she would gain further experience in when her other children, Eleanor, Wilma, James (known as Douglas) and Mark, came into the world.

Bill became a familiar face to various communities in his role as a police officer and the family went wherever he was employed, namely Denny, Longcroft, Raploch, Lennoxtown, Queenzieburn and Kilsyth.

The Partridges are now grandparents to ten grandchildren and have also been blessed with three great-grandchildren.

In their younger years, the pair were involved in amateur dramatics when they lived in Queenzieburn and enjoyed holidaying in Scotland, especially on the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Skye.

Revealing their secret to a happy marriage, Nora said: “Having a good argument now and again to clear the air! That’s the spice of life.”

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