A DIAMOND couple from Moorside celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary – at a slower pace than the day they got married.
For Alison Robinson found herself at the centre of a police drama as she made her way to tie the knot to Marshall.
And she would not mind going through the whole day again just because the original one in 1958 was such a blur!
Once the pair met when they were 18, it was a case of love at first sight and they have been inseparable ever since.
And what is the secret to a happy marriage? Well, it is down to just knowing and caring about each other – despite their troublesome start.
“I remember being in the car on the way to the church when the police pulled it over,” recalled Alison, whose maiden name was Savory.
“They thought the driver was speeding! I’ve no idea what he was doing or if he was even speeding.
“The day itself is a blur, it goes so quickly so I’d love to be able to live it through again just to realise what actually happened.
“You’re so wound up, partly through excitement and partly through trepidation but we did it and we’ve been together since.
“I actually remember the day we met. My friends and I went in the Duke of Edinburgh pub. I wasn’t a drinker but my friends wanted to go there and it was absolutely heaving.
“I think I had a Babycham but even though it was crowded, to this day I say that all I could see was Marshall. He came over and he noticed me and that was that.”
One other thing 79-year-old Alison can remember about the November day she married ‘toyboy’ Marshall at Bardsley – it had to be there as a priest deemed they could not get married at Moorside because they lived out of the parish – was it was foggy.
“The photographer took loads of pictures inside the church,” she added.
“I come from Grains Bar but when I wanted to get married at Moorside, they said I wasn’t in the parish and I’d have to use a different church.
“That’s even though I went to Moorside School and Sunday School. Things were a lot stricter then than they are now.
“Fortunately, he came from Bardsley, so we got married there at Bardsley Holy Trinity Church.”
After marriage, Marshall and Alison became known as butchers, owning a string of shops around the Oldham area, including one on Egerton Street in the town centre, meaning they had to move to Besom Hill Farm in Moorside.
“We owned shops for 40 years until we retired in 2001 but we’ve been here for 37 years – we used to keep animals too,” said Alison, a former pupil at Moorside and Bluecoat Schools.
“I honestly don’t know where all the years have gone.”
A family celebration, including their three sons and a daughter, is planned for the New Year as some live in London and have their own families to sort.
And the answer to the killer question? Is it down to Alison or Marshall sacrificing important things for the sake of their marriage or doing what the other person says?
The answer is a bit more vague than that.
“I don’t really know what the secret is,” Alison confessed.
“Obviously we’ve had our ups and downs, like any other couple will have done, but at the end of the day we care for each other and we do things together – that’s what you do when you care about someone very much.”