Mount Edgecombe couple reflect on 50 happy years

MOUNT EDGECOMBE couple, Hugh and Neta Neill celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on 27 February. The couple married in 1971 at St Margaret’s on the Hill in Durban North. From opposite corners of the globe, a distance of more than 13 000km, the couple met by chance in January 1969.

Hugh has lived in Durban North since he was just five years old and Neta comes from Scotland. “I came to South Africa on my way to Australia and I met Hugh at a braai and that was the end of my travels,” said Neta.

“We just clicked,”added Hugh.

The wedding day, which paid homage to Neta’s Scottish roots, also marked a significant piece of Durban North history.

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“It was a very different wedding- it was the first function in the now Riverside Hotel, which was then the Athlone Hotel. We had a piper – he stood out as the attraction at the wedding,” added Hugh.

“We are so different. I am a sportsman. I love any sport and play most sports. Neta has different interests,” said Hugh.

When the pair married, Neta owned Salon Carole, where she worked as a hairdresser for about three years while Hugh worked as an accountant, but before they settled down, the couple shared an overseas adventure in Europe.

“We bought the salon just before we got married and sold it in 1972. We went overseas to see the Olympic games in 1972. We stayed in Europe for two years. We had our first child, David, there in 1973. He lives in Glasgow where he was born,” said Hugh.

They began their journey in France and travelled through France into Spain, travelling up the Mediterranean coast.

“We travelled Europe for three months in a two-man tent,” said Neta.

After the three-month tour, they went back to Scotland and Hugh bagged an accounting job in London. They moved back to South Africa and bought a house in Glenashley where they lived for 32 years. They had their second child, Grant in 1975. The couple have five grandchildren – three boys in South Africa and two girls in Glasglow. Their secret to a lasting marriage is their faith.

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“We don’t fight. We might get a little unhappy with each other at times, but we don’t fight. Understanding each other is so important – that and our faith in Jesus Christ,” said Hugh.

Hugh worked as an accountant for a number of companies before leaving the corporate world to work as a consultant in 1991. He went into the fast food business, setting up Humperdink’s restaurant in 1992 which later became the first Debonairs Pizza take away in Durban North.

He opened two more chains in Broadway Road and uMhlanga before starting a construction company with his son.

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