A couple who are well known in Saltcoats for their volunteering in the community are celebrating their Diamond Wedding Anniversary.

Rodger and Agnes McBride will be married 60 years on August 8.

Rodger, 84, and 79-year-old Agnes have been involved with local groups and organisations in the community since they moved to Saltcoats more than 50 years ago.

The couple, originally from East Ayrshire – Rodger from Muirkirk, Agnes from Cronberry – met at the dancing.

Agnes recalled: “We met at the dancing in the Lugar Institute. That’s where we were married as well. It was the miners’ club. We got it for free because my father was a miner.

“My husband was the commandment for St Andrew’s Ambulance. He taught for 50 years First Aid. There used to be a First Aid post down at the beach in Saltcoats in the Summer. We used to be there all the time and I absolutely loved it.

“Rodger was also an officer in the North Parish Church Boys Brigade. When we got married Rodger was a bricklayer. Unfortunately, just after we got married the company went bust and he had to move and worked in a mine rescue station in Coatbridge. Then he got a chance to be a fireman in the nylon plant. When that closed down he went to work for the council [North Ayrshire] with the parts department, cutting grass and things.

“I worked in a hosiery factory as a hand embroiderer. That was in Catrine. After that, I never worked. I became a homemaker.

“I’m very blessed with my family, we’re really, really lucky. Everybody has been fantastic.”

Rodger and Agnes have two daughters and a son, five grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

Agnes said the secret to a long happy marriage is: “Just give and take. I look after him and he looks after me.”