A WEE COUNTY couple celebrated their diamond anniversary at the weekend with a family meal at Inglewood House.

Alex and Jean Marshall met around 1957 at a school camp. The couple were together for five years before getting married at the Stirling Registry Office on July 2, 1962.

After the ceremony the couple went for a meal at the Johnstone Arms hotel in Alva before setting off to St Andrews for their honeymoon.

The couple first lived together in Menstrie before moving to Fishcross. They then moved again to Clackmannan and then Blairhall before settling in Dollar where they still live to this day.

Alex was an engineering manager at Diageo while Jean worked in a hotel in Dollar before becoming a school cook at Alva primary school. A keen cook, Jean also enjoys baking cakes.

Their first child, John, was born in 1962. His little brother Raymond followed shortly after before the family was completed with the arrival of daughter Carolyn.

The couple also have two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and another on the way.

For years the couple enjoyed spending their time with the family and eventually purchased a caravan and travelled all over Scotland down south.

Jean said: "It was the only way we could afford a holiday."

However, once the kids were older and had flown the nest, it was time for Alex and Jean to travel further.

"Once the kids were grown up we started enjoying cruises," Alex said.

The couple travelled to the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and to New York.

Jean said: "We've done about 11 altogether."

However, with the recent pandemic, the couple are now returning to their previous holiday style of trips around Scotland.

"Health-wise, I wouldn't even think of going on an aeroplane," Jean said. "Now, we have our holidays up [near] Fife."

Jean, who will be 80 this Christmas, has been retired since she was 50. Alex retired eight years after.

Asked if they've been living the life of luxury ever since, Jean laughed and said: "You could say that...We've been spending the kids' inheritance!"

After 65 years together, the couple shared their simple secret to staying happily married all this time.

Alex said: "Be honest and look after each other."

Jean added: "You wonder where all the years have went. They've flown by.

"You have kids then they get married and have grandchildren so you're looking after the grandchildren as well."