A GREENOCK great gran who fainted at her own wedding is toasting 50 years of marriage - after being too young to enjoy a tipple when she tied the knot.

Soulmates Margaret and Robert McCowan were just 16 and 17 when they tied the knot on January 26 1970.

The golden couple told the Tele the secret of their happy marriage is 'making each other laugh'.

Margaret, 66, said: "Robert is a brilliant dad, a brilliant granddad and an amazing great granddad.

"I still love him to bits."

Robert, 67, added: " Even after 50 years, we still make each other smile, which I think is very important."

The couple, who are both retired, met each other at Burton's Dance Hall in Greenock - after Margaret tried to set him up with her friend.

Robert said: "I wasn't having it and offered to walk Margaret home. The rest, as they say, is history."

Love blossomed and the couple walked down the aisle at St Patrick's Church on January 26 1970 - but the ceremony wasn't all plain sailing.

Robert laughed: "Margaret fainted right after Father Ferguson announced us as man and wife."

Nine months after their wedding, the couple welcomed their first child into the world, son Robert. They were blessed with another four children, Alan, Paul, Paulajane and Michael.

At the beginning of their married life, the family squeezed into Robert's granny's home in Quarrier Street.

Margaret said: "It eventually got too much and we moved in with Robert's mum in Irwin Street before getting our own house in Clydeview Road.

"We then moved to Lansbury Street, Auchmead Road, Warwick Road and then to Juno Terrace, where we are now."

Robert's job as a coach driver took him all over the UK and Europe while Margaret worked in catering in the James Watt pub.

Today, the couple have had a few more additions to the family with 20 grandchildren, six great grandchildren and another two on the way.

Robert said: "We are a close family and feel so blessed that everyone is healthy and happy.

"I feel like the richest man in Inverclyde with my family around me."

While Robert insists laughter is the key to their happy marriage, Margaret has another suggestion.

She joked: "He does what he is told. Robert says 'happy wife, happy life."

Daughter Paulajane, 43, said: "I think it's great that the two of them have been together for this long.

"You just don't get that nowadays and we are so proud of them.

"When we were younger dad was out working and mum was at home with five of us.

"We had a good upbringing, every one of us."

To mark their golden wedding anniversary the couple are jetting off to Jamaica as well as a party at Cruden Hall, where they will finally have a first dance.

Paulajane added: "They didn't have one at their wedding, so they're going to have a first dance now."

Robert added: "The song we've chosen for our first dance is 'There's a Kind of Hush' by Herman's Hermits.

"They always played it at Burton's, so it seems quite apt."