An Aberdeen couple celebrating their 57th Valentine's Day have shared their heartwarming love story after a chance encounter at the theatre.
George Simpson, 86, was seeing a show at the Tivoli Theatre in 1966 when he met Margaret, 88, who was working as an usherette at the time. He said it was "love at first sight" and still gets butterflies more than six decades later.
As reported by Aberdeen Live, George said: “I knew as soon as I laid eyes on Margaret that she was the one for me. It might sound a bit cheesy but it was love at first sight and I just knew in that moment that I had met my wife.
"Here we are, 57 years later, and I get that same feeling every time I see Margaret.”
Margaret, a former ARI nursing auxiliary, and George, a plumber, had their wedding at the local Registrar's office in Aberdeen before with dancing the night away with friends and family at Atholl Hotel on on November 15, 1968.
However, married life got off to a rocky start with a nightmare honeymoon. The pair decided to cut the holiday short and instead went to visit George's brother in East Kilbride.
Margaret said: “The honeymoon was a disaster. We arrived and the lady who welcomed us had forgotten we had booked in – in hindsight it was a blessing as the place wasn’t the romantic getaway location we had hoped for and George’s brother’s home in East Kilbride seemed a lot more desirable at this moment.
“We can laugh about it now but it certainly wasn’t the smooth sailing start to married life we were hoping for.”
The couple went on to have two sons, Mark and Craig, who would eventually have kids of their own, with Margaret and George now grandparents to two boys and three girls.
They retired to Leggart Terrace in Aberdeen, however a period of ill-health meant they were forced to make the difficult decision live separately.
Margaret moved into a local care home, Renaissance-run Cowdray Club, while George stayed in their marital home in Kincorth.
George: “We were heartbroken when we realised Margaret needed a supported housing environment to live a happy and fulfilled life. We have spent every day of our lives together so to suddenly be separated - I felt like I had lost a limb.
“I would visit Margaret every day, and I could see how happy she was at Cowdray Club – she was thriving, she had made a lot of new friends and she was finding joy in activities she had never tried before. I was so pleased to see that she was happy, but it was bittersweet having to go home to the empty house after our visits every evening.“
Shortly after, George suffered a bad fall and broke his hip, meaning he would also benefit from supported accommodation.
The pair were reunited and now live together in shared accommodation at Cowdray Club.
Margaret said: “It’s a dream come true to have George here with me. The couples accommodation means we can live our married life here at Cowdray Club together – no more visits, no more empty homes and no more painful goodbyes.”
After 57 years, the couple are still madly in love and always make sure that the other feels special and celebrated.
George added: “We love each other very much and I can’t imagine life any other way, but let me be clear – it's not always been easy and like every relationship we have our ups and downs. That’s normal. But we know we are soulmates and the good times always outweigh the bad times.”
Cowdray Club’s spacious environment is specially designed to create a safe and supportive home for all residents. It has 30 single occupancy rooms and five ‘companion rooms’ where couples can live together.
Residents are cared for by a team of highly qualified nursing staff and trained carers who provide 24-hour support.
Cowdray Club is part of the Renaissance Care Group, it currently operates 16 homes located across Scotland and currently provides care provision for 760 residents and employs around 1,150 staff.
