To some it is just a bridge, but to Peter Brown it is a symbol of romance and from where his wife, Ivy, wants her ashes scattered. Lucy Richardson discovers why the iconic Transporter Bridge, in Middlesbrough, is central to a love story that’s still going strong after nearly 60 years.

SHE threw a cup of tea over him when they first met, yet nothing stood in the way of Peter’s visits to his forces sweetheart. The couple ended up travelling the globe with the Army but, as far as they are concerned, the Transporter Bridge is more breathtaking than any of the world’s wonders.

Without the structure, they could not have continued their courtship and therefore may not now be looking forward to celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary.

On June 1, 1953, Ivy, from Dormanstown, near Redcar, was in the Naafi (Navy, Army and Airforce Institute), which runs canteens for the British forces) and serving at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, where Peter was also based with the Royal Signals.

But when she poured him a cup of tea and asked if he had brought any coals to light the fires, the squaddie from Wolverhampton quipped “Not on your nelly”, resulting in a drenched uniform.

“I told her she could either launder my jacket or go out with me and she replied said that, unlike laundering my jacket, going out with me would cost her nothing,” he recalls with a smile.

However, after just a month of courting, Ivy, 21, was posted to Seaton Snook RAF Station, near Hartlepool, about 40 miles away, a disance which threatened to thwart their blossoming ardour.

In order to see his sweetheart during his weekend leave, Peter, then 19, had to hitch a ride from Catterick to Darlington, then thumb another lift to Middlesbrough, before walking down to the Transporter Bridge.

He says the chances of it being open were remote, so he had no choice but to climb 160ft up and over it, before walking the last three miles to where a bus shelter acted as a makeshift love nest.

“We were so busy snogging on a bench that I always missed the last bus, so I had to walk back, then climb the bridge again – the eight hour round trip lasted three months.”

“From then on, we have always had a love affair with the bridge. Often, we have wondered what would have happened to our courtship if the Transporter had not been there. I don’t think we would have been able to carry on because the distance would have been too far and there just wouldn’t have been enough time.”

Six months after the couple first locked eyes on each other on Christmas Eve 1953, they were married.

“In those days, the fare across the bridge was about 3p there and 3p back, so workmen, even women with children, would climb over it, but you can’t do that today.

“Our love affair with the Transporter Bridge inspired me to climb it again for the first time in 58 years. It’s important to me, but my children think I’m as daft as a brush.

“I’ve been fascinated by the bridge’s centenary celebrations and I really wanted to participate.

It means so much to Ivy that she wants her ashes scattered off the top.

“My wife believes that nowadays romance has gone out of the window. Not for us. On our 40th wedding anniversary, we went back to the camp where we first met and had a cup of coffee. Then we went to the bus shelter at Seaton Snook, which is still there. She loves reminiscing.”

The newlyweds settled into married quarters at Catterick until Peter was posted to Korea leaving Ivy with a sevenweek- old baby. A year later, she got a telegram inviting her to join her husband, so the 24-year-old – who had previously never set foot out of the North-East – stood on the platform at Redcar station with a toddler and several suitcases in tow ready to travel the world.

During Peter’s Army career, the couple and their three children were posted to countries including Cyprus, Germany and Belguim, as well as stints in England when Peter was an instructor with the Royal Signals at the Royal Military Academy, at Sandhurst, rising to the ranks to captain. He retired and came out of the Army in 1976, returning with Ivy to Redcar to live in their first permanent home.

He said: “When she was a young girl, she said ‘I’m going to marry a rich man and live in Kirkleatham Lane’. Well, she didn’t marry a rich man, but I made sure that her second wish came true.”

A FAMOUS HISTORY

• Following a 1907 Act of Parliament the bridge was built at a cost of £68,026/6s/8d by Sir William Arrol and Co, of Glasgow between 1910 and 1911, to replace an earlier steam ferry.

• The opening ceremony on October 17, 1911 was performed by Prince Arthur of Connaught.

• During World War II the superstructure of the bridge was hit by a bomb.

• 1974, the comedy actor Terry Scott, travelling between his hotel in Middlesbrough and a performance at the Billingham Forum, mistook the bridge for a regular toll crossing and drove his car off the end of the roadway, landing in the safety netting beneath.

• It has appeared in films and TV programmes including Billy Elliot, The Fast Show, Spender and Steel River Blues. The storyline of the third series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, saw the bridge dismantled to be sold and re-erected in the US.