By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
LYSTERFIELD couple Ian and Joyce Rider will be celebrating 50 years of marriage this month – along with Ian’s sister, who married on the same day.
Separated by the River Clyde, the Scottish couple owe their meeting to the famous estuary and the Erskine ferry.
“The funny thing was I lived on one side of the Clyde and Ian on the other, I worked on his side and he worked on my side.
“We both caught it every day and it wasn’t long until we noticed each other,” Joyce said.
After a few chance encounters, 19-year-old Ian decided to make the first move.
“Ian asked the man in the shop near the ferry my name and after calling it out across the water a few times, one night he jumped off the truck and asked me on a date.
“And I had noticed him and thought he was a bit of alright,” Joyce laughed.
The pair were married a year later in a joint wedding with Ian’s sister Helen and husband John.
“It worked out really well, we made up our minds pretty quick that we wanted to get married – Ian said ‘We won’t get engaged, we’ll just get married.’
“And Helen and John had their wedding day planned so she suggested we have a double wedding,” Joyce said.
Having crossed the River Clyde many times before, it was her wedding day crossing that still stands out as Joyce’s most memorable ferry ride.
“It was a very busy Saturday and we would never have got there on time had everyone not let us pass the traffic, all the cars were tooting their horns and the driver drove straight onto the ferry – I felt like a princess that day.
“It was so lovely, I’d been crossing it since I was a kid and it was very special,” she said.
Arriving in Dandenong 38 years ago the couple moved around before settling in Lysterfield where they raised two children.
Now with six grandchildren Joyce and Ian hold patience as their key to their 50 years of marriage.
“You have to give and take in a marriage and be patient – we all have our bad times.
“But the good outweighs the bad and you have to work at it – it’s too easy just to give up,” she said.
Friday 14 August marks the special occasion for both couples and Ian and Joyce will be celebrating with a luncheon and an exchange of cards by post from their family in Scotland.
