Diamond Wedding: Annie and Jock Gilchrist, Symington

Know when to zip it...that's the secret of happy marriage according to Annie and Jock Gilchrist, of Tinto View, Symington! (Pic Rodger Price)

And the fact that the couple, of Tinto View, received well over 100 cards for their 60th wedding anniversary shows just how well-loved they are.

Jock was brought up in Symington and he was one of the first people Annie met when she moved there to work as a maid in one of the big houses in 1951.

“I was out for a walk and I met him at the playing park – we just got chatting and that was it,” said Annie.

Her parents were farm workers in Lesmahagow and she went back home to be married, in Trows Hall, on April 2 1954, then settled in Symington with her husband. Jock worked as a lorry driver.

The couple had one daughter and now have two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Annie (80) and Jock (83) both keep well and still stay busy. In their younger days they did charity work and Annie still knits, sews and bakes, while Jock enjoys his bowls and tending the large garden at their home

And the secret to staying happily married for so long?

“When you start having a row, you just shut your mouth; zip it,” said Annie. “That’s the best way.”

But she added: “We have not had many rows. We have got on quite well over the years.”

Congratulations to the happy couple from everyone here at the Gazette team.