A COUPLE who met on their train journey to work are celebrating 60 years of marriage.

Mount Vernon residents Charlie and Margaret Watson were overjoyed when a card from the Queen dropped through their letter box yesterday morning.

To mark their diamond day, the pair were showered with cards and flowers from friends and their daughter Anne in celebration.

They also received a special bouquet from Lord Provost Sadie Docherty.

"We met on the train" said Charlie, a retired shipyard manager from Springboig.

"I worked down in Roberston Street at the time and Margaret was going to the college, so we walked down together and that was it."

After a three-year engagement, the pair married on August 6, 1954, at High Carntyne church, and honeymooned in Oban.

Despite their fair share of "ups and downs" the couple stuck by each other.

The two 86-year-olds have crammed a lot into their 60 years together, including trips abroad to Switzerland and Denmark and volunteering with the Boy's Brigade.

Avid musicians, Charlie used to play the violin and Margaret turned her hand to the piano - they both now sing in their local choir.

Margaret, a former shorthand typist from Carntyne, said there was no real secret to their success but said the duo "had been through a lot together".

"Don't get me wrong, I nearly sent him packing a few times over the years, but we have always stuck together," she said.

"Charlie used to work away a lot and there was never a day when I didn't think about him, and I hope that was the same for him about me."

They now dote on their only grand-daughter Elouise, 16, who visits them most days on her way home from school with her mum Anne.

Previously they lived in Dennistoun but moved home 55 years ago and have stayed there ever since.

"We've had a happy life, and we have been lucky" said Charlie. "I can't even remember being single."

hannah.rodger@eveningtimes.co.uk