Marking golden days

Aug 15 2008 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH couple Eldred and Geoffrey Hall celebrated their golden wedding recently.

They were married in St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth, on August 2, 1958, by the Rev. Canon Colin Preston-Thomas.

They have lived in Perth since retiring from St Edward the Confessor, Barnsley, where Mr Hall was vicar from 1986-98.

He and his wife attend St Ninian's Cathedral and he helps mostly in the country parishes when there is a vacancy or during holidays.

His wife was born in Stanley and attended Perth Academy before training as a nurse in Dundee.

She later joined the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps.

The couple met in BMH Hannover at a cocktail party when Mr Hall was serving with the Devonshire Regiment doing his National Service.

Eldred was then posted to BMH Paris and Geoffrey left the Army to work for Thomas Hedley (now Proctor and Gamble) in their London factory, making soap and detergent.

They courted by letter for two years and married in 1958. Geoffrey rejoined the Army in 1967 but this time as a chaplain.

Their present house is their 19th home. They have lived in Northern Ireland, Germany and on the 11th floor of a block of flats in Hong Kong, and in a beautiful hillside chaplain's house overlooking the Bay of Algeciras in Gibraltar – “home is where you hang your hat !”