Couple celebrate their golden years

Mar 25 2009 by Will Henshaw, Rutherglen Reformer

A RUTHERGLEN couple celebrated their golden anniversary last week.

Nan and Joe McCann have been married for 50 years and celebrated the milestone by going out for dinner on Saturday (March 21) and also by having a surprise get-together organised for them by daughter, Elizabeth Arbuckle.

Nan and Joe met at a Hoover club dance in Cambuslang and have never looked back since they were married at Wardlawhill Church on Saturday, March 21, 1959.

Joe was a bricklayer when they met and Nan worked in Polywarm, a factory in Cambuslang which made continental quilts.

They have two children, Ian and Liz, as well as two grandchildren, Janine and Stuart, and two great- grandchildren Rian and Keira.

Joe is from Rutherglen and Nan is from Cambuslang, and the McCann family is well known throughout Rutherglen, having owned three chip shops.

The McCann family also emigrated to South Africa in 1963 in the hope of finding work as times were tight back in Britain.

They went there to try to make a better life but they returned to Scotland after more than a decade abroad.

Daughter Liz held a surprise party for the two at the Glencairn club, which they attend regularly.

She said: “We are going to Mitchell’s in Carmunnock for a meal and then it’s back to mine for a party.

“Last Thursday I held a surprise party for them at the Glens Club and we put together a collage of photos showing them throughout their marriage.

“We also hired a big screen and put on some music for them so it was a great night.

“They’ve been going to the Glencairn Club for over 25 years and all their friends were there. They’re very well known down there.”

Liz added: “The reason we’re well known in Rutherglen is that we’ve always had the chippies. Even going back to my great grand-dad.

“We owed Kerry’s, on Gallowflat Street, one of Fairie Street and one in Farmecross.”