It was one midweek match which Denis Law couldn’t miss – and he and his bride Diana Thomson tied the knot in Aberdeen 60 years ago.
The couple, who now live in Manchester, will be celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary this weekend and we’ve taken a look through the cuttings on Tuesday, December 11 1962 when one of Scotland’s greatest footballers married the love of his life in what would be regarded as a low-key ceremony by today’s standards.
Granite City prodigy Denis, who went on to win 55 caps for his country and became the only Scot to secure the prestigious Ballon d’Or two years later, was the picture of happiness before and after the ceremony at Holburn West Church.
And, although hundreds of people swarmed round the main door of the church for what the Evening Express described as “Aberdeen’s wedding of the year”, the groom and his best man, Frank Sherrett, slipped unobserved into the building by a side door.
The paper reported on how the 22-year-old was “outshone in the match of his life” as it reported on the excitement which built up on a normally quiet Tuesday afternoon.
It added: “Denis might be known as a star Scotland player. But it was his bride, Miss Diana Thomson, who stole the limelight when she turned 30 yards of the city’s busy Great Western Road into a bridal path on her way to marry him.
“The crowd of women and youngsters started to gather more than half-an-hour before the ceremony – and extra police had to be called out to keep the traffic flowing.
“The ‘big match’ atmosphere was there as Miss Thomson, a 23-year-old former secretary, looking as ice-cool as her husband-to-be in big games, stepped from her home at 252 Great Western Road – just three doors away from the church.”
The occasion was very much a family affair with a notable lack of footballers among the 150 guests, although Archie Beattie, who had first spotted Denis’ talent in youth football, was on the list, while several Aberdeen players watched the proceedings.
The Evening Express said: “When they left the church, the newly-weds had to run the gauntlet of an even bigger crowd and onlookers surrounded the bridal car.
“It was an unforgettable day for the bride’s five attendants: the bridesmaids, Miss Isobel Leith, Aberdeen. Miss Diana Leith, Carlisle and Miss Hazel Chalmers, St Fergus. And the flower girls, Diana Creighton, St Fergus, and Denise Law, Aberdeen.
The ceremony was conducted by the Rev A G H Grant and the reception followed afterwards at the Northern Hotel.”
Denis later revealed more about how he had encountered his sweetheart and why the couple had chosen to cement their union on one particular day.
He said: “I had only met Di in the summer at a dancehall in Aberdeen, where I was back home during the close season. I was smitten straight away; I knew she was special and I was very keen to see her again.
“She was not from a well-to-do family, but she had certainly enjoyed a much higher standard of living than my family, a few steps up the ladder with an inside toilet and hot water all the time. And we hit it off.
“A few weeks after meeting Di, I went down to sign for Manchester United at Old Trafford. I was reluctant to leave her for any length of time after that, so I decided I would return to Aberdeen after our games on Saturdays.
There were no direct flights to Aberdeen
“It doesn’t sound too difficult, does it? Manchester to Aberdeen should just be an easy little journey. But that wasn’t the case back in the early 1960s; it was three flights to get there and another three to get back with British European Airways.
“It was all too much for both of us, so I though the best thing would be if we were to get married. I asked her, she accepted, and I took her to Manchester”.
He added: “The reason December 11 was picked as our wedding day was because Di’s mother had got married on the eleventh. So we were just following family tradition.
“It was the middle of the season, but [United boss] Matt Busby was one of those managers who liked his players to be married, because he felt that it meant you would calm down, leave the nightclubs and pubs alone, and live a cleaner life.
“Matt looked after us when we moved and that was a great help to us both. We have been blessed in our lives and I am very grateful for everything that Di has done.”
The couple had five children – four boys and a girl.
Congratulations to them both as they celebrate a very special anniversary.
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