A COUPLE who spent most of their lives in the Wee County have recently celebrated 60 years of marriage.

Richard and Christine Douglas were married on September 14, 1963, in the Old Parish Church in Portobello.

The couple moved to Clackmannanshire shortly after in 1967, after Richard took up a job within the education department at the University of Stirling.

Christine was well-known for working at the Wee Mix-Up Shop in Tullibody, where residents will remember her serving sweets to generations of children.

Looking back on her time in the shop, Christine said: “It doesn’t half make you feel old when a child’s grandmother tells you she bought her sweeties from me when she was a bairn!”

Richard, meanwhile, looked after the paper shop at the opposite end of Tron Court as well as running his own photography business.

He retired after spending many years serving as a staff photographer for a local newspaper.

The couple have since moved out of the Wee County and settled in Taynuilt near Oban, where they spent their honeymoon.

Richard added: “I think [the secret of marriage] is basically being content, being affectionate and being best friends. That and liberal quantities of uisge beatha!

“It was pure chance – but a happy one – that we settled here. We wanted to be near our son and daughter-in-law and the grandchildren in Inverawe.

“We grew to love the village after spending a number of years of long-distance childcare.

“And it’s even better now not having the driving.”