Double wedding celebrations for Morecambe parents and their daughter

Joan and Phil Stott, aged 80 and 81, will celebrate their diamond wedding on August 9 – the same day their daughter Tillie is due to marry her partner Titch.

The couple, who are both originally from Ashton-Under-Lyne, first met on a school trip aged 14 but finally got together when they were 18.

Phil was a motor mechanic and Joan worked in the mills as a cotton ring spinner.

They were both 20 when they married at Albion Congregational Church in Ashton-Under-Lyne on August 9 1958.

They spent their first year of married life in Malta where Phil had been posted with the RAF as a ground radar mechanic. On returning to the UK Phil went back to the motor trade before joining Lancashire Constabulary as a police officer, eventually moving to Lancaster in 1963.

He retired in 1990 with the rank of Detective Inspector.

As well as looking after their three children Mark, John and Tillie, Joan worked in the flower trade and for many years as part of the kitchen team at St Martin’s College. They are also proud grandparents to Daniel, Rebecca, Jacob and Marley.

When asked the secret to a long and happy marriage, they agreed it’s about compromise, having a laugh, and in Phil’s case admitting he was wrong, albeit not very often. Tillie and Titch met in London where Tillie was working as a teacher and Titch as painter and decorator, jobs they continue to do having moved to Morecambe where they live with their two boys Jacob and Marley.