Runaways who beat the odds (From Barry And District News)

Runaways who beat the odds

It was just like a film.

Boy meets girl, they fall in love, but are forbidden to marry because they are too young.

So they run away to another country to wed, but fate deals them a bitter blow as they run out of money and are forced to return home to face the music.

But like all good film plots, Barry couple Donald and Sheila Collard's had a happy ending, because the pair tied the knot shortly after returning home.

And they are still together after 50 years to tell the tale.

Donald and Sheila, who live in Everard Street, have just returned from a Red Sea cruise, in celebration of their golden wedding anniversary (which falls on February 25).

They tied the knot at the register office on Westgate Street, Cardiff, 50 years ago, when Donald was 21 and Sheila was 18. The couple initially wanted to marry before Sheila was 18, but her mother refused to give consent, believing her daughter to be too young.

So the pair went behind their families' backs and travelled to Dumfries in Scotland, where you could marry at 17 without a parent's approval.

Unfortunately Donald, who had given up his job as a docker in Barry, ran out of money and couldn't find a job in Scotland. They would have had to be living in the country for three weeks before being granted a marriage licence, but had to come back to Wales after ten days because they were financially destitute.

"We had to go home without having enough money to pay the landlady in Scotland," said Donald.

"So I left my watch behind.

"But when I sent her the money, she sent my watch straight back to me! I can't remember her name though!"

Sheila turned 18 shortly after they returned home, and despite her mum's "um-ing and ah-ing", the pair eventually married. Sheila said people were looking out for a "bump" when they returned from Scotland, assuming they wanted to get married quickly because she was pregnant.

"But we got to turn our noses up at them," she said. "I didn't give birth to my first child until three years later!"

Sheila and Donald knew each other as children, both living in the same area of Barry. They got together when Donald returned following a three-year stint in the forces, and married the year after. They have two children, Michael and Lynda, and two grandchildren, Gemma, aged 22, and Matthew, who is eight.