Sweethearts Tie The Knot 39 Years After Getting Engaged

Mar 23 2008 Exclusive by Marion Scott

WHEN their eyes met it was love at first sight for teenagers Maureen Galbraith and Cameron McInnes.

The starry-eyed young lovers became inseparable and soon became engaged. Yet the couple have only now tied the knot - almost 40 years later.

The couple broke up over a tiff about their original marriage plans in 1969.

They each married someone else and had families - but their remarkable love story reached its climax on Friday when they got hitched at a registrar's.

Maureen, 55, and Cameron, 57, of Clarkston, near Glasgow, first fell in love in July 1968.

Maureen, a community health visitor, said: "I was just 15 and still at Glenwood Secondary School in Castlemilk when I first set eyes on Cameron at Crossmyloof Ice Rink.

"It was the place all teenagers went to meet but the minute I saw Cameron, I fell for him." Cameron plucked up the courage to ask for a date and they started going out.

The next year, Cameron proposed. He said: "I was just turned 18 so not very sophisticated.

"I asked if she wanted to get engaged. She said yes and I was the happiest man alive."

Maureen said: "I was in heaven and wanted a big church wedding, four bridesmaids, the whole works."

But as wedding pressures built up, the couple split.

Maureen said: "We were both heartbroken but realised we were too young. We parted on good terms and went on with our lives."

In 1974, Cameron married Susan McCaw and they had daughter Ashleigh, now 27, and twins Stuart and Craig, now 24.

Maureen married printer Dennis Galbraith in 1976 and had two children, Alan, 27, and Lorraine, 26. Plumber Cameron and Maureen met by chance 15 years ago outside Williamwood High School in Clarkston, where their children were pupils.

Maureen said: "It was as if fate was giving us a second chance."

Cameron had split from his wife two years before but Maureen and Dennis were still together.

Maureen said: "Dennis and I had a good marriage but we just grew apart eventually.

"When we separated in 2000, what started as a friendship with Cameron bloomed into romance."

Cameron popped the question again last year while the two were on holiday in Portugal.

He said: "After losing her 30 years ago over a stupid wedding plan disagreement, I resolved not to lose her this time."