EVEN Her Majesty the Queen’s representative in Ayrshire and Arran said it was a unique event.

For Ardrossan couple Duncan and Mary Clark’s Platinum wedding anniversary celebration was the first Deputy Lord Lieutenant Angela Dunbar had ever attended.

The couple were joined by family and friends at their Currie Court home last week to celebrate their 70th year of marriage and Mrs Dunbar had the pleasure of handing over the official message from the Queen.

She said: “I do a lot of wedding anniversaries and in fact I recently did a 65th anniversary in Ardrossan, but this is the first time I have done a 70th. Seventy years of marriage is remarkable – it must be something about the water in Ardrossan!” The couple first clicked after meeting at the Ardeer Halls in 1942 when Duncan was 19 and Mary just 15.

Duncan now 92 said: “I was attracted to Mary’s black hair and her white teeth. I asked her to dance with me and I took it from there.

A joiner to trade working in the shipyards, Duncan served in the Home Guard during the war and was sent to London on bomb damage repair.

“It was when I was in London that I knew we had to be together.

"We missed one another.

Mary, 89, is originally from Kilwinning and worked in the woollen mills before marrying.  The couple married on VE day in 1945 in Kilwinning Congregational Church and went on to have three daughters and now have four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The secret to a long and happy marriage is forgiveness according Duncan and Mary.

“We were blended in love all the time. If anything happened we would forgive one another,” said Duncan.

Mary agreed: “Don’t get alarmed when you row. It’s going to happen but forgive each other quickly.

"The quicker you get over it the better.” A warm congratulations to Mary and Duncan from the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.