A diamond couple are to celebrate a milestone wedding anniversary - on Valentine's Day.

Hugh and Patricia Meechan married in Greenock 60 years ago.

And now they're preparing to celebrate with a special party for family and friends.

Patricia, then 18, and Hugh, who was 20, first met in Macari's Cafe in Lynedoch Street.

Romance quickly blossomed and they got engaged a year later, at Christmas in 1949.

On 14 February 1952, they tied the knot in the oratory at St Laurence's Church. They were unable to marry in the church because it had been bombed in the Blitz.

Patricia, 81, told the Tele: "There was snow on the ground. After the marriage we got into a taxi and went to the photographer - my mother gave us a flask of tea to keep us warm.

"We came back to her house in Lynedoch Street for a wedding breakfast then we had a reception for 120 in the Co-operative hall." And despite it being the most romantic day of the year, Patricia and Hugh, 83, had practical reasons for choosing the date.

Patricia revealed: "At that time catholics could not marry during Lent and if you got married before 5 April you got your tax returned. We got married on the 14th to allow Hugh to get his tax back and so we were married before the start of Lent." When the couple first met, Patricia was working in a draper's shop in Charles Street. When she retired in 1994 it was from the canteen in Greenock Health Centre where she worked as a server.

After completing his national service with the Army, Hugh worked with the corporation. He was a heavy goods driver with the council for 40 years before retiring in 1990. The pair started married life in a single end in Belville Street before moving to Lynedoch Street, where Patricia's mother stayed. In 1972, they moved to Regent Street where they lived for 30 years before moving to their present home in Kilblain Court.

Sharing his secret of a long and happy marriage, Hugh said: "If you are going to get married, your own life is not your own. You have to fit in if you want to live together." And Patricia joked: "You have to give and take - he gives and I take." The Meechans have a son, Hugh, who lives in Glasgow and three daughters - Catherine, who is in Swansea, Rose, who lives in Stockton-on-Tees and Carol, who has settled in Glasgow. They also have four grandsons.

To mark the diamond wedding anniversary, Hugh and Patricia will be joined by 30 family and friends for a special dinner in Greenock's Tontine Hotel.