BOB and Mary Anderson of Longniddry celebrate their platinum wedding anniversary next week – and have their active lives in the community to thank for a long and happy marriage, according to son David.

Bob, now 96, and Mary, 90, first met when Mary was a nurse in a Hawick hospital, and Bob – on leave from the RAF at the time and whose family were tenant farmers just outside the town – was visiting his sick mother there.

But it wasn’t until 1948, when they met again at a dance in Mary’s home town of Coldstream and Bob recognised her, that they began courting.

They were married in Coldstream on a snowy Saturday on March 31, 1951.

East Lothian Courier: Bob and Mary Anderson on their wedding day, March 31, 1951

David said: “Because of the snow, it was touch and go whether my father would make it from Hawick to Coldstream for the wedding, because the farm was 10 miles in the hills and they woke up to a blanket of snow, and they had to clear the roads from the farm to get out!”

First settling in Gordon for 12 years, they then moved to Penicuik, where Bob was an insurance superintendent with Prudential. There they had three children: David, Jean and Hazel.

When the children were at high school, Mary retrained as a primary school teacher, taking a post in Penicuik.

Bob and Mary moved to Longniddry in 1975, and Mary then taught at Prestonpans Primary School until both she and Bob retired in 1984.

During the 46 years they have lived in Longniddry, they have been very active in the community, with Bob a member of Tranent Rotary Club for many years, a past president of the club and now an honorary member.

As a fiddle player, he was also part of Haddington Fiddlers and then East Lothian Fiddlers.

Mary has been involved with Tranent Inner Wheel during her time in Longniddry, and is also a past president of the club, still attending meetings via Zoom.

The couple, who have seven grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, are regular church-goers who have been involved in many church initiatives. They were also both members of Longniddry Golf Club for many years.

It is this active lifestyle that David credits for his parents being so happy and healthy.

He said: “They’ve been blessed with good health and are determined to be independent.

“And their involvement with people is what’s keeping them going.”