Real Lives: Tea party marks 60 years together for Ian and Mae

Ian, now 88, met postman’s daughter Mae Kirkland Murray, now 84, when they were children attending their local Sunday School at Nicolson Street Church, Edinburgh.

But it wasn’t until after the war, when they were in their teens, that they became a couple.

They celebrated on Sunday by throwing an afternoon tea party at their daughter Linda’s house with all their family and friends.

Mr Scott said: “People came round and the whole family were together. It was a lovely afternoon.”

But he admits that he has no idea how they have stayed happy for so long. “It just feels normal to be together now. I don’t know how we did it, but it feels ordinary now to be together,” he says.

“I guess you just have to work at it, that’s all.”

Daughter Linda added: “Neither my mum or dad are very well at the moment, but they look out for each other, and it is lovely that we could have this celebration for them.”

The couple married on December 5, 1951, in the very same church where they met as children and held their reception in the Assembly Rooms in George Street.

Following the wedding they had a honeymoon in Dundee, staying with friends, then moved to the house which was to be their home in Newington for the next 40 years.

Ian worked for the family plumbing and electrical business in Gorgie until the 1970s when he moved to take over his aunt’s shop on Morningside Road. He looked after it until 1998, when the shop was nearly a century old.

Mae worked as a clerical officer in the City Chambers catering department of Edinburgh Corporation until her two children, Linda and Elisabeth, were born in the early 50s.

She later returned to part-time work as a comptometer – the first successful key-driven mechanical calculator – operator for John Menzies & Co, and moved on to become senior clerical assistant in the finance department of Napier College, where she stayed until she retired.

Mae then joined the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service and volunteered as a buyer for Liberton Hospital shop.

Ian retired in 1998, becoming involved in the WRVS with his wife and later joining the charity.

They both continue to volunteer at the shop several days a week.

Roy Adamson, the couple’s son-in-law, commented: “Mae and Ian are a wonderful couple and it’s really great to see them celebrate 60 happy years together.”