The couple’s love story began when they were children
Allan and Nora Platt celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary on the Daffodil Liverpool today
A couple who are celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary “back where it all started” have shared their secrets to a long and happy marriage. Nora Platt, 80, and Allan Platt, 81, got engaged on the Daffodil when it ran as a Mersey Ferry. They returned to the ferry today (August 9) to celebrate 60 years of happy marriage.
The couple’s love story began when they were children on the recreation ground in Prescot, where they grew up. Allan, who now lives in Rainhill with Nora, told the ECHO about the first time he set eyes on his beautiful wife.
He said: “The story begins, really speaking, when we were kids. When I first met Nora she was 14 and I was 15. It was originally my friend who I went to ask Nora out for.
“We were there on our bikes and these two girls came towards us, it was Nora and her mate, and my mate said ‘go and ask them girls if they will have a date with us’. So I did, I went up and asked if they’d want to go on a date with us one night. They said yes but we never saw them again.”
He didn’t see Nora until 12 months later when fate brought them back together and they both found themselves at a dance in a church hall in Prescot. Allan said: “We sort of met properly there. She was actually there with a reporter who she was sort of courting then. We had a few dances there and then I took her home, he was furious but I swooped in.
Allan and Nora Platt celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary
“But that’s how we started, by going to local dances at the church hall in Prescot. It was Hope Street we first met though, that was the recreation ground which we’ve always thought is quite nice it being called ‘hope.’
The couple went on the Daffodil and on their way back Allan popped the question. He said: “I knew right away that I was going to ask but she didn’t have a clue, she was so surprised. She said yeah and then she said ‘you lucky b****r.’
“We got properly engaged a fortnight later on June 1, 1965, and got married in the August 1965 in Prescot Parish church and that’s it, I’ve been looking after her ever since.”
At the time, Allan was an apprentice bookbinder but told the ECHO how he “went on the buses in 1971”. He said: “When I started working in Liverpool I was a little kid in a great big city.”
He used to come to the bus station that was based on the docks and remembered seeing the Daffodil when it was docked there.
He said: “I used to sit there ready to come back and I used to look at it and think ‘ah I got engaged on that.’ It was a lovely memory. Looking out the memories do come back and they stay with you, the good and the bad, always a good memory on there [The Daffodil].
The couple’s love story began when they were children on the recreation ground in Prescot
“It’s surreal being back here but I can’t get over how much Liverpool has changed, I feel like I’m somewhere different. The Daffodil has a sentimental affect with us but I also feel as if this is not the Liverpool I knew because it’s a number of years since I came here, I don’t get out that much now.
“It will always have a special appeal to me though, it does to every Scouser I think, you get a magical feeling when you’re here and it’s a special place for us, no matter where you go, whenever you come back.”
Over the past 60 years together the couple have shared lots of happy memories, including raising their daughter Elaine. Allan said: “We’ve only ever had one argument in all that time.”
For more than six decades, the MV Royal Daffodil took thousands of passengers across the river separating Liverpool and the Wirral before being decommissioned and falling into disrepair.
Now, the Daffodil, which is moored within Canning Dock, is a beautiful restaurant and the couple are set to dine onboard to celebrate 60 years of happy marriage.
A spokesperson for the Daffodil said: “Sixty years of marriage is an extraordinary milestone, and it’s even more special to us knowing that Daffodil was where this love story began, with the proposal all those years ago when she was the Mersey Ferry.
“We’re honoured to be part of such a meaningful occasion and can’t wait to welcome Nora and Allan back on board. Our team will do everything we can to make the day as memorable and joyful as the moment they first said ‘yes.’ A big congratulations to them both!”
When asked what the secret to a long and happy marriage, Allan said: “Finding the right one in the first place is the top priority, isn’t it? And then taking your time to train them and once you’ve got them trained you don’t let them go.”