For this couple, love began 47 years ago in a flower shop in Birmingham. Alan, then a university student, came to the shop to begin work as a delivery driver during his Christmas holiday from university and there he met the young florist working behind the counter, Betty. “I was the designated driver from the start, I suppose,” Alan jokes, “and the rest was history.”
After four years together, Betty and Alan tied the knot.
All these years later, Betty admits that on their wedding day they had no way of knowing what a lifetime together would truly come to mean. Mainly, she says, because when you’re a youngster you don’t think that far ahead. “We made our vows and said until death us do part, but you can’t imagine what it’s like after 20, 30, 40 years. You can only make a decision based on how you feel at the time and because you hope it will work in the future.” But it takes more than just hoping: Alan adds that longevity “requires flexibility because we all go through changes through life.”