A true lifelong love affair! Married couple who were born as neighbours and used to share the same pram are still going strong 84 years on
Two babies born as neighbors are together as a loving couple 84 years later.
Brian and Margaret Main still live side by side after being born just six weeks apart in 1940, just two doors apart.
And the couple cherish a ‘baby love’ photo of themselves as adorable babies in the same stroller going for a walk together.
The couple grew up before breaking up, but then fell in love, got married, started a family and are still together after more than 60 years of marriage.
Mum-of-three Margaret says: ‘As children we lived two doors apart – I was at number 50 and he lived at number 52 on our street.
Brian and Margaret Main pictured as babies sharing a stroller on a walk
The couple has been married for 60 years and has raised a family
Brian and Margaret on their wedding day. The couple were born just six weeks apart in 1940
The couple grew up just two doors away at 50 and 52 Addison Road in Blackwood
LIFETIME LOVE: After moving away at the age of 11, Brian returned to the street where he grew up at the age of 18, when he first asked Margaret out
‘My sister looked after me and a childminder looked after Brian. They put us in the stroller together and took us for long walks.
“Sometimes they would go and pinch apples from people’s trees and put the apples under me and Brian. They were some rebels.
‘We played together as children. As a child I was a real tomboy and I loved climbing trees, any trees. Brian remembers that one day I couldn’t come downstairs and the other kids had to go get our parents to help us.”
Then, at age 11, Brian moved with his family and the couple lost contact.
Brian said: “I moved with my dad because he was a mine manager and was moved around a lot. But when I was 18 I moved back with my family who still lived on Addison Street, and when I saw Margaret she was all grown up and so sweet.
“I asked her out and the rest is history. We started courting and became inseparable.
The couple married in 1962 at the age of 21, after dating for three years. Margaret made her own wedding dress
They invited around 30 people to their wedding, which cost £1 per person for the reception
Pictured: Brian Main with his sister Pamela
Brian built their house in the 1970s, which he says cost £3,000 but is now worth half a million
Margaret said, “We’re going to the cinema together. I loved everything with Jack Lemmon and I loved the movie ‘The Odd Couple’ with Walter Matthau.
‘My favorite movie is South Pacific, I’ve probably seen it fifty times.
‘Brian preferred cowboy movies and I liked to watch them with him. Neither of us were dancers, but we would love to take long walks together, we had great times together.’
Brian said: ‘I had a motorbike but Margaret refused to get on it so I bought a BMW Isetta three-wheeled car. You were allowed to drive it with a motorcycle license. We went everywhere together in that car.’
At the age of 21 in March 1962, the couple married after dating for three years. Margaret made her own wedding dress and the bridesmaids’ dresses.
Brian says: ‘We didn’t have much money and we had about 30 people and the reception cost £1 per person. I remember I got a tax break and we borrowed £40 from my aunt for our honeymoon in London.
‘We booked a hotel at the Strand Hotel and had to check out after four days because it was so expensive and we ran out of money and went home!’
Brian joined the Scouts at the age of 16. He and Margaret enjoyed going for walks and to the movies together
Brian in the early 1970s. In 1973 he built his family a four-bedroom detached house in Blackwood, South Wales, at a large sum of £3,000.
After working in the mines, he became a traffic controller and eventually retired in 2003
In the photo: Brian makes a parachute jump
Brian Main receives an award as a traffic controller
Margaret studied art and became a clothing designer for a children’s toy company, Chilton. Brian worked in the mines before becoming a traffic controller and eventually retiring in 2003.
In 1973, Brian built his family a four-bedroom detached house in Blackwood, South Wales, at a cost of £3,000.
‘It’s scary when I look at house prices now. Our house only cost me £3,000 to build all those years ago, now it’s probably worth half a million,” said Brian.
The couple have three children, Debbie, 60, Hayley, 57 and Bryan, 55. They also have five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
“All our children were born by caesarean section,” Margaret remembers.
‘I was told I had to wait at least two or three years between each child because the operation involved cutting you all the way from your belly button down. Now it’s a keyhole operation.
‘I was small, only five feet tall. Brian was 6 feet tall, so I always looked up to him.”
Brian and Margaret first boarded a plane in 2010 for their first holiday abroad, in Lanzarote.
A family photo from the early 2000s. Brian and Margaret have three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren
Margaret with Billy the duck when she was 18
Brian and Margaret with their first child Debbie. In addition to three children, the couple now has five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren
Here is the couple at their daughter Hayley’s christening
Margaret as a child. The couple says the secret to a happy marriage is being friends and laughing
“I didn’t mind being on the plane, but Margaret was terrified,” Brian said.
‘She kept asking me if we had taken off and that we had been in the air for fifteen minutes. It was a nice holiday, but we prefer our caravan.’
Now married for 62 years and asked what the key is to a happy marriage, the couple says they are the best of friends and laugh.
Brian joked: ‘I’m a bit of a joker and I asked her if she wanted a ‘pregnancy ring’ as a gift. She laughed and said, “It’s an eternity ring,” and she would like one.
‘She is absolutely beautiful and I would marry her again in a heartbeat. She really is my best friend.’