They were next-door neighbours who became young sweethearts.
Now Margaret and Robert Dunlop have received a card from the Queen after reaching 60 marvellous years of married life.
Margaret, 80, and 85-year-old Robert celebrated their diamond anniversary with their children Julie and Andrew, and were no doubt reflecting on the first time they caught each other’s eye over the garden wall.
The couple, from Barco Avenue in Penrith, were living with their respective parents in a new-build housing estate in Edenhall at the time.
According to Margaret, it was love at first sight. “He was always a handsome young man, and I was very lucky that he just so happened to live next door.”
The couple married on March 31, 1962. Robert worked on farms for a time, and then got a job driving wagons at Edenhall Brickworks.
Margaret, meanwhile, was not only driving pick-up trucks for a living, but would go on to become one of the county’s first female taxi drivers.
They would subsequently start their own haulage business together, which they ran for many years before their retirement. Before moving to Penrith, they also lived in Melmerby and Kirkoswald.
“I know that it’s unusual for husbands and wives to work together, but we always got on and we still do,” said Margaret. “The secret to a happy marriage? Tolerance!”
