Morecambe couple celebrate 75 years of marriage

Norman and Gladys Bell, 96 and 95 respectively, of Beaufort Road, Morecambe, liked Morecambe so much they moved here for good and set up home.

The couple were only 15 and 16 when they met at a local dance in Delph, a village in Saddleworth in 1941. Gladys said: “We didn’t know each other but it was love at first sight.”

The couple started courting but then Norman left to join the Navy for three years as an electrical engineer.

The couple wrote to each other as often as they could, then in 1946 Norman came out of the Navy to finish his apprenticeship.

Gladys, who worked in a woollen mill in Saddleworth at the age of 14, and Norman, married a few months later in Saddleworth Church.

Gladys said: “We came to Morecambe for our honeymoon and liked it so we decided to live here. The first house we bought was on Avondale Road.”

Gladys and Norman also had a guest house at Sandylands, which Gladys ran, whilst Norman worked for 33 years as an engineer working on the illuminations and street lighting in Morecambe and the surrounding areas.

During the lights switch on every year, Norman met stars including Roger Moore and Ronnie Corbett.

At a lights switch on Roger Moore said to Norman: “I'd rather you go out there than me."

Gladys and Norman shared a love of modern sequence dancing, which they still did until Norman was in his late eighties.

The pair enjoyed holidaying in Torquay, Scotland, Wales, Benidorm and Salou.

The couple have two children, Michael, 66 and Barbara, 64 and one grandson.

Norman likes to make a drop of homemade wine and most nights the couple have a little tipple.

As for the secret to a happy marriage, both said: “We just get on. It doesn’t seem like 75 years. We’d be lost without each other. “

The couple are having a family celebration at home for their anniversary.