Teamwork key to staying the distance says couple happily married for 70 years

Margaret and Herbert Harding are celebrating 70 years happily married and share their secrets, like working as a team and keeping busy with hobbies. READ THEIR BEAUTIFUL STORY >>

• Gutwein’s hardline on borders is under pressure
• Rethink on tying the knot and other events

BEFORE they were married, Margaret and Herbert Harding would walk home from dances in the city along Hobart’s original floating bridge, her dancing shoes tucked under his arm.

Married for 70 wonderful years this Wednesday, the 94-year-olds know a thing or two about longevity and mostly, they say, it comes down to caring for each other and teamwork.

If one cooks, the other will do the dishes, or, as Herbert puts it, ‘Sometimes I’ll wash and she’ll wipe’.

Herbert and Margaret Harding of Howrah will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

While Herbert tends his bonsais, Margaret gets stuck into her knitting.

When their kids were young, Margaret would take them to school before work, while Herbert, who started at 2am as a baker, would pick them up.

“The main thing is looking after one another, having a good GP, eating the food our parents used to eat and keeping active,” Herbert said.

Herbert and Margaret Harding of Howrah will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Their 70th was supposed to be a momentous family event, with their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren flying in from places like Sydney and Perth.

Instead, they will enjoy a quiet lunch at the Bellerive yacht club, thinking back on the days when the Belvedere on Argyle St was the place to be.

“The last ferry left at a quarter to midnight so if we wanted to stay for the last dance we had to walk home across the floating bridge,” Herbert said.

The floating bridge spanned the River Derwent from the 1940s until the Tasman Bridge was completed in 1964 and Herbert said it was quite a hike to get home to the Eastern Shore – not that they minded.

“Margaret used to take a pair of walking shoes and hide them in a hedge,” he said.

The couple’s son Mark, who lives in Sydney, shared his parent’s pragmatism over the closed border, but said the distance factor had caused significant anxiety for the family, particularly when Margaret had a health scare and ended up in hospital earlier this year.

“We just have to press on and hope that people in the community act sensibly so we can have some face-to-face contact soon,” he said.