Downpatrick couple enjoy 65 years of marital bliss

Downpatrick couple enjoy 65 years of marital bliss

18 December 2019

A DOWNPATRICK couple whose introduction was gently engineered by the husband-to-be’s mother will celebrate 65 years of marriage on Saturday.

Muriel and Alan Major will be surrounded by family and friends when they mark their blue sapphire anniversary.

Muriel and Alan, who are both 89 and from Saul Road, admit they found a “gem” in each other.

They credit their long and happy marriage to a shared love of music 

and the arts and never allowing a disagreement to remain too long without making up.

The couple say that they have been blessed with three sons, Glenn, Richard and Ian, two grandchildren, Hannah and Thomas, and two great-children, Louis and Lila.

They were married at the age of 24 in Ballyphilip Parish Church, Portaferry, by the Rev Lindsay on December 21,1954. Like many other couples of that era, the wedding was a small affair and they spent a welcome few days honeymooning in Dublin. 

Alan worked as a writer in the Supply and Secretariat branch of the Royal Navy and soon needed to leave his new bride at home to return to his posting. Muriel worked in the office of the now defunct Ulster Transport company.

They met on a bus from Belfast to Portaferry and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I think we were both on the bus from Belfast and my mother, who knew Muriel, sat beside her and they began to talk and then we were introduced,” said Alan. “I was sitting behind and my mother then invited her down for supper the next night.”

Muriel interjected jokingly: “I was supposed to be going to a shorthand class, which would have made my dear father much happier, but I mitched off and went to the Ritz pictures instead.

“His mother had already spotted me and approved me as a likely candidate for her son as she believed that I knew how to keep house since I was doing it at home as my mother died when I was very young.”

Alan said that his mother’s approval of Muriel very much matched his own.

“I had clapped eyes on her before and I thought she will do very nicely for me. It was a private thought, but my mother must have picked up on it and had some insight,” he added.

Muriel did come for supper the next night and an invitation to a dance was given by Alan.  They courted for over a year and more whenever he was home on leave.

Alan’s parents, Rachel and Ian, were in the next room when Alan later asked Muriel to marry him and they celebrated with tea and supper again.

“I was completely flabbergasted but I would say that it was a romantic proposal,” recalled Muriel. “Alan’s father was great at tending to an open fire in the sitting room and his mother was a great hostess in making scones and cake for supper, so I think just after his father tended the fire, Alan turned to 

me and asked me to marry me. I think I said yes with a laugh as it was so unexpected.”

The couple spent the early years of their marriage in Malta where Alan was stationed and where the eldest two sons where born. 

While the family spent a short time living in Bangor, they have spent the last 52 years living Downpatrick where Alan went on to work for Radio Rentals in the town, and later in the British Red Cross Society in Belfast, while Muriel worked for the Saul playgroup and later in Downpatrick Library.

The couple’s love of music and going to the theatre, both in Belfast, and at the former Theatre Upstairs, in Irish Street, Downpatrick, was a shared passion over the years.

Even today, they both love to watch or listen to concerts on the radio or TV, with performances perking up them up from a trying day or calling on their Alexa to play some Glen Miller music.

Muriel said: “We both love the theatre and we both absolutely love music of all sorts. If there’s anything that doesn’t suit us, we have a wee word with Alexa and say it’s your turn to chose.”

Alan added: “I’ve often said isn’t it wonderful that we have the same tastes in common and that’s a great start to a marriage as well as a good sense of humour and a short memory.”

Muriel said: “I think it did help that we did like the same things but I would say don’t leave it too long before you say sorry for whatever may have happened or been said between you. It’s best done before the night is out.

“Also, I say that having a bit of good manners helps, to say thank you and to appreciate what we do for each other.”