An Aberdeen couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary yesterday.
Margaret and Donald Smith tied the knot 60 years ago on October 24, 1956, just two years after they started dating.
The loving couple first met each other by chance on Union Street, and, from that day on, the pair have been inseparable.
Mr Smith, 82, said: “I can’t believe it’s been 60 years, it’s a very long time. But it feels great to be celebrating our diamond anniversary, it feels like I just met her yesterday.
“I would have been about 21 when I met her, and she would have been just about 18.
“We first met on Union Street in Aberdeen one day in July 1954. We went to the old Palace Ballroom, and I saw her home that night – then we went out for 26 nights in succession.
“We went to the pictures, the greyhound stadium where Asda is now in Garthdee, and we did lots of other things young couples would do in those days.
“We got married two years later, and the rest is history, as they say.”
Mrs Smith added: “It’s amazing to think it has been so long since we first got married, the time really has flown by.
“We’ve had a really happy life together.”
But the couple’s home wasn’t lonely for long after the wedding, as just a year later Mr and Mrs Smith welcomed their first child into the world.
Mr Smith said: “Suzanne was born about a year after we were married, and then Donald was born five years later.”
Mr and Mrs Smith have subsequently gone on to become grandparents to six grandchildren – Craig, Claire and Gregg Martin, Scott and Emma Smith, and Laura Todd.
And, even more recently, the happy couple have become great-grandparents to Eva Todd and Seersha Ederley-Smith.
Mr Smith said: “Being a grandfather has been absolutely superb and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the time with all of my grandchildren.
“Having the two great-grandchildren has been amazing as well. They’re little more than babies but they’re excellent.
“Taking them all golfing, out to our caravan in Ballater, it’s all helped to keep me and Margaret young.”
And after 60 years of a long and happy marriage, Mrs Smith offered some advice to any young couples who have recently tied the knot.
Mrs Smith said: “I think the secret is to do things together.
“I took up golf because he was golfing, and he took up bowling because I was bowling. We just seemed to share everything.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, don’t get me wrong, but it’s been an incredible life together.
“We’ve got a lovely, happy family, and we’ve got our health, so we’ve been very, very lucky.
“We’ve had a good marriage, we really have.”
