A well-known and popular Peel couple recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.
Eric and Sheila Kelly, of Ballaterson Road, celebrated 50 years of marriage on June 3 with family and friends at a Tea Dance at St John’s Methodist Hall.
As their anniversary day fell on Wednesday in the middle of TT Practice Week they decided to combine their celebration with their usual weekly afternoon Tea Dance.
Eric, 75, said: ‘We met around 53 years ago in the usual place where most couples met in those days at the Villa Marina dances.
‘I asked Sheila for a dance and that was it.
‘I had first saw her at the Golden Goose club in Duke Street in Douglas.
‘We got married at St Matthew’s Church on the quay in Douglas.’
Eric and Sheila, 71, have one son, David, and four grandchildren.
Asked about the recipe for a long and successful marriage, Eric said: ‘Working together through the good times and the bad.
‘People tend to part these days during the bad times, but you’ve got to support each other.’
Friend Audrey Corrin said: ‘Eric and Sheila are a very popular and generous couple, always willing to help others and share their time and talents for other people’s enjoyment.
‘Eric plays the organ for Sunday morning worship at St. John’s Methodist Chapel and he and Sheila organise the popular weekly Good Friends Tea Dance at St John’s, and run the indoor bowls at the hall too.
‘Eric helps many churches around the island to entertain for Christmas fairs, coffee mornings or concerts. He regularly contributes to Manx Radio’s Thought for the Day, participates in The Guild, and plays festive music on his organ in Michael Street in Peel at Christmas time to entertain shoppers. They’re a very special couple and deserve a big thank you for bringing so much enjoyment to others, and many congratulations on their golden wedding anniversary.’