Peter McShane was normally a shy man but that very same night he took his best friend to one side and told him: “That’s the girl I’m going to marry.” His friends saw how truly Peter had lost his heart the next day, when he called off from playing in a Scotland v England football match between holidaymakers – something that hitherto would have been unthinkable!

And three years later, true to those words, that best friend became his best man as Peter and Margaret started what has now become 60 years of wedded bliss.

The couple spent the first years of their marriage in their native Glasgow – Margaret having been from Shawfield and Peter from Cranhill – but moved to Bothwell after Peter, while taking one of his daughters to a birthday party in the town, spotted a house that was in the process of going up for sale that day.

It was perfect for the couple, and they immediately put in an offer. The house was theirs before it had even properly gone on the market and the decision to grab the opportunity has been proved the right one, as they are still there, 28 years later.

They have three children, Denise, Lisa and Peter, and four grandchildren and have long been well settled into their retired phase of life, with Peter having worked for major Swedish engineering company, Bulten, and finishing as managing director of all activities outside Sweden and Margaret having spent most of her working life in Marks & Spencer as a sales assistant before being a receptionist in a doctor’s surgery.

While they celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary in their home, they received two special guests: South Lanarkshire’s Depute Provost Bert Thomson, who presented Peter and Margaret with flowers and a certificate on behalf of the council, and Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Lanarkshire Andy Braidwood, who handed over a certificate to mark their achievement and a congratulatory card from King Charles.