THEY have been married for 60 years ...

and they're still smiling.

Loving couple William and Margaret Hutcheon marked the milestone of their diamond wedding anniversary.

And six decades down the line the pair are still laughing and joking with one another.

Margaret, 78, said: "We grew up a few streets from each other, me on Craig Street and he on Crail Street in Parkhead, so we always knew each other.

"He went away to the army and when he was back I realised how much I liked him."

But it was far from love at first sight for the couple.

Margaret added: "I hated him. And my mother said, 'Oh, he's such a nice boy, that one,' give him a chance."

William, 81, added: "Her mother had more sense than she had."

The couple began stepping out in their late teens, although the backdrop to their first date is slightly contested.

While Margaret insists it was the former Granada cinema on Duke Street, William has clear memories of the Regal on Sauchiehall Street.

He said: "I remember it was three half crowns to get in while the cinema normally cost a tanner.

"It was the House of Wax, the first time 3D cinema had come to Glasgow so it was expensive and she was ducking and diving and climbing all over me because she was scared."

William joined the army and was sent to Singapore where he remembers sending home nylon stockings to Margaret. However, he was only allowed to send one at a time because of postage restrictions.

Halfway through his overseas posting, William's father died and while he was home on leave he proposed.

Their wedding was arranged by letter.

After leaving the army, William joined the then Glasgow Police, working in Maryhill.

During his time on the beat William earned the nickname The Midwife Cop after delivering two babies; a boy on Summerhill Road and a girl on Willock Street.

The couple have two daughters, Rhona, 55, and Yvonne, 56, as well as four grandchildren and two great-granddaughters aged five and six.

William added: "The secret to a long marriage? The simple thing is to do as you're told.

"It's easy enough for me to do as I'm told because I usually can't get a word in edgewise."