It’s golden! Eddie and Frances mark 50 years together
Eddie and Frances Newcombe celebrated 50 years of marriage on Monday last, having tied the knot on March 29 in 1971.
The pair have lived in Springfield, Mullingar, all of their lives, having met first at work.
“We met in the knitwear factory, Tailteann Textiles, out where the new apartments beside the hospital are now. That’s where it started,” said Eddie.
“We didn’t know one another personally but we lived in the same terrace when we were small, up in Ginnell Terrace.”
Eddie said that there could be no wedding reception as he and Frances were married during Easter Week.
“They were simple times compared to now. In them times when we wanted to get married, the priest didn’t allow any dancing during Lent, and especially Holy Week. It happened to be Easter week, exactly the same day as this year, a Monday 50 years ago.
“We got married of a Monday, that was the day the dance bands used to have off,” said Eddie, who was a member of the Firehouse Five Showband.
“We went to Dublin for a few days for the honeymoon, and when we came back then after Easter week, I started back working again in the music.
“I had played music with the Town Band for a few years. That was the time when the bands were starting to go strong, and the Firehouse Five were looking for extra people.
“I was working for a catering company in Dublin at the time, I met them going up and down a couple of times on the train. A couple of the boys in the band were working in Dublin as well.
“We were doing part-time work and then after a few years the band turned professional, and we did music full-time. We played England, Scotland and all over Ireland, but never further afield.
“We met loads of people. Looking back, it was amazing all those people that were going out dancing and meeting up.
“The ways of dancing have changed completely now – I think it was the venues getting the licence for the drinking that really changed it.
“When the promoters started getting drink licences, the whole scene changed. They were trying to copy England for the cabaret style set-ups in the pubs and clubs.”
Eddie played saxophone in the band but says he gave it up once he got “a proper job”.
Eddie and Frances went on to have five children, four boys and a girl, and are now the proud grandparents of 14 grandchildren.
“The 50 years crept up on us, and I hope we clock up a few more years.
“My next big milestone is next year, but I never look too far into the future.
“It never entered our heads when we got married that we’d reach 50 years. Them days, lots of people didn’t plan for the future the way they do now.”
When asked what the secret is to a happy marriage, Eddie says “tolerance is a good guide”.
“To be tolerant of one and other, to enjoy one another’s company when times are good, and if there’s any sadness, when there’s a loss of family or friends, then it’s to support one another.
“And when you have a good family around you – that’s important too. Both sets of parents were a great support to us over the years, and we learned a lot from them.”