Two babies born as neighbors are together as a loving couple 84 years later.
Brian and Margaret Main are still next to each other after being born just six weeks apart in 1940, just two doors away from each other.
And the couple treasure a ‘baby love’ photo of themselves as adorable babies in the same pram together while out for a walk.
The couple grew up before separating, but then fell in love, got married, started a family, and are still together after being married for more than 60 years.
Margaret, a mother of three, says: “When we were children we lived two doors apart – I lived at number 50 and he lived at number 52 on our street.”
Brian and Margaret Main photographed as babies sharing a stroller during a walk
Since then, the couple has been married for 60 years and 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 apart at 50 and 52 Addison Road in Blackwood.
LIFETIME LOVE: After moving away at the age of 11, Brian returned to the street he grew up on at age 18, when he asked Margaret on a date for the first time.
‘My sister looked after me and a nanny looked after Brian. They put us both in the stroller together and took us for long walks.
‘Sometimes they would pick apples from people’s trees and put them under Brian and me. They were a couple of rebels.
“We played together when we were kids; I was a real tomboy when I was young and loved climbing trees, any tree. Brian remembers that one day I couldn’t get down and the other kids had to go find our parents to help us to go down
Then, at the age of 11, Brian moved in with his family and the pair lost contact.
Brian said: ‘I moved in with my dad because he was a coal mine manager and was moved around often. But when I was 18 I went back to my family who still lived in Addison Street and when I saw Margaret, she was older and very charming.
“I asked him out and the rest is history. We started dating and became inseparable.
The couple married in 1962, at age 21, after dating for three years. Margaret made her own wedding dress
They invited around 30 people to their wedding, and the reception cost £1 per person.
In the photo: Brian Main with his sister Pamela.
Brian built his house in the 1970s which he says cost £3,000 but is now worth half a million.
Margaret said: ‘We go to the cinema together. I loved everything about 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 would go see them with him too. Neither of us were dancers but we would love to go for long walks together, we had wonderful times together.’
Brian said: ‘I had a motorbike but Margaret refused to get on it, so I bought a three-wheeled BMW Isetta car. You could drive it with a motorcycle license. We went everywhere together in that little car.
In March 1962, at the age of 21, the couple married after dating for three years. Margaret made her own wedding dress and her bridesmaids’ dresses.
Brian says: ‘We didn’t have much money and there were about 30 of us and the reception cost us £1 a head. I remember we had a tax refund and borrowed £40 from my aunt for our honeymoon in London.
‘We booked the Strand hotel and had to leave after four days because it was so expensive and we ran out of money and went home!’
Brian in the Scouts when he was 16 years old. He and Margaret loved going for walks together and going to the movies.
Brian in the early 1970s. In 1973, he built a four-bedroom detached house in Blackwood, South Wales, for his family at a grand cost of £3,000.
After working in the galleries, he became a traffic guard and finally retired in 2003.
Pictured: Brian completing a skydive.
Brian Main receives an award as a traffic warden
Margaret studied art and became a clothing designer for a children’s toy company, Chilton. Brian worked in the galleries before becoming a traffic warden and finally retiring in 2003.
In 1973, Brian built a four-bedroom detached house in Blackwood, South Wales, for his family at a grand cost of £3,000.
‘It’s scary when I look at house prices now. Our house cost me just £3,000 to build all those years ago and now it’s probably worth half a million,” Brian said.
The couple have three children, Debbie, 60, Hayley, 57, and Bryan, 55. They also have five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
“All of our children were born by cesarean section,” Margaret recalls.
‘They told me I had to wait at least two or three years between each birth because back then the surgery cut you from the navel all the way down. Now it’s a keyhole surgery.
‘I was very small: I was only 5 feet tall. “Brian was 6 feet tall, so I was always looking at him.”
Brian and Margaret first boarded a plane in 2010 for their first holiday abroad, to Lanzarote.
A family photo from the early 2000s. Brian and Margaret have three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Margaret with Billy Duck when she was 18 years old.
Brian and Margaret with their first daughter, Debbie. In addition to three children, the couple now has five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Here the couple at their daughter Hayley’s baptism
Margaret when she was 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.
‘I kept asking myself if we had taken off and we had already been in the air for 15 minutes. It was a nice holiday, but we preferred our caravan.’
Now married for 62 years and when asked what the key to a happy marriage is, the couple say they are best friends and laugh.
Brian joked: “I’m a bit of a joker and asked her if she wanted a ‘maternity’ ring as a gift.” She laughed and said “it’s an eternity ring” and she would like one.
“She is absolutely lovely and I would marry her again.” She really is my best friend.
