Published: Wednesday, 25th June, 2008 11:00
Love amongst the rubble of the Blitz
By Jamie Borthwick
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FATE: Andy and Betty celebrate 60 years of marriage
AS the devastation of the Clydebank Blitz in 1941 sent homeless families far and wide, a pair of young Bankies found love amongst the smouldering rubble.
Andy and Betty Hamilton met in the aftermath of the German assault on March 13 and 14, 1941, and are now celebrating 60 years of happy marriage.
Betty’s family lost everything in the two-day onslaught as her family home on Kilbowie Road was destroyed, along with all their photographs and possessions.
Although her family was moved to Dunoon, proud Bankie Betty came back to live first in Radnor Park, then Drumchapel, as the community rallied round to raise Clydebank back up from the annihilation which killed 528 people.
Like so many others, she could have been gone from the area forever, but fate conspired to lead her to the attention of Knightswood man Andy Hamilton.
Andy was home from serving in the Royal Navy when he first spotted Betty at work in a shop in Drumchapel, and the young forces servant decided to make his move at a Sunday night dance hall.
He told the Post: “We both went to the F&F dancehall in Partick and it was there we got together.
“I joined the Navy at the age of 17, and was soon packed off to Gibraltar to assist with the returning troops in North Africa, but I kept in touch with Betty.
“We wrote letters to each other all the time, until I was demobbed in September of 1946 and returned.”
The couple wed at the Windsor Rooms in Clydebank on June 2, 1948, and enjoyed a honeymoon in Carnoustie.
With few houses available, and a huge waiting list, Andy and Betty spent the first six years of married life with Betty’s mum and dad in Glasgow Road, Clydebank.
Andy said: “In 1954 we finally got a house in Langfaulds Crescent in Faifley.
“To us, this was magic — you can keep Buckingham Palace, we had all we needed.”
Six decades on, 82-year-old Andy, and Betty, 83, have two sons, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren and, although they now live in Johnstone, still get a copy of the Post delivered to them every week.
And to mark the special occasion, friends and family came together with the couple to celebrate.
Paying tribute to Bankies like his wife, Andy said: “I am constantly amazed by Bankies. They are a very handsome people and all seem to be instilled with the belief that Clydebank is the greatest place in the world.”
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