A HELEN’S Bay couple are shining brightly as they prepare to celebrate their blue sapphire wedding anniversary this weekend.
Adrienne and Alan Foster will mark their 65th year of marriage on Sunday at their Helen’s Bay home, reflecting on memories gone by.
The pair first locked eyes in their early 20s, when Alan Foster caught a glimpse of Adrienne Jamison who had been in Portrush with her girlfriends.
Fate would bring the couple together again, when Adrienne and Alan attended the same dance at Inst just a few months after.
Alan, formerly of Belfast, recognised Adrienne, who lived in Lisburn, immediately and the pair danced the night away.
From that moment, sparks flew and the couple were destined to be together.
Adrienne and Alan married at St Polycarps Church in Finaghy on September 24, 1958.
They moved a number of times throughout their lives, from Jordanstown, to Castle Park in Belfast, to Windsor in England – before finally settling in Helen’s Bay in 1975.
Together they welcomed daughter Dianne in March 1960 and son Mervyn in February 1962.
They are also the proud grandparents to grandsons Matthew, Ben and Christopher.
Both retired now, Adrienne enjoyed a career in market research, while her husband worked in sales management.
With only 15 days between their birthdays, more celebrations are yet to come for the couple, with Alan turning 90 December 31 this year and Adrienne following suit on January 15.
When asked what the secret was to their long marriage, daughter Dianne suggested that their caring personalities and good sense of humour had much to answer for, joking that at times there was more laughing at the other spouse than with them.