Diamond celebration

A happy Hamilton couple had a sparkling celebration of their remarkable six decades of marriage when they marked their diamond wedding.

Jessie and Bill Mitchell tied the knot at Larkhall Parish Church on March 7, 1964, and were surrounded by their loving family on their 60th anniversary.

They were also visited at their Silvertonhill home by South Lanarkshire Provost Margaret Cooper and Lanarkshire’s depute lord lieutenant Alison Plummer.

Bill, 82, and Jessie, 77, met at the dancing held at Hattonrigg Hotel in Bellshill in 1962. The couple have five children – Billy, Julie, Shirley, Angela and Alan – along with 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

They started their married life in Tuphall Road and have spent all of their decades together living in Hamilton and Blantyre, moving to their current home five years ago.

Both are keen gardeners and enjoy spending time at their Girvan caravan, and took their young family on many happy childhood holidays in their touring caravan to favourite destinations Blackpool and Newquay.

Jessie, nee Colvin, was born at Beckford Lodge in Hamilton. She went on to work in an office before raising her young family.

She later returned to work in retail at the Hamilton branch of Primark, then at Thorntons and later Clintons, where she was manager of the Hamilton store until retiring 17 years ago.

Bill was born at his family’s home at Crossgates in Larkhall and spent his career working as an electrician, beginning as an apprentice at Hamilton firm Mcadams.

He moved on to work for British Rail at its Hamilton West motive power department the year after the couple were married, then had two spells based at Glasgow Central sandwiching two years at the city’s Larkfield depot.

Bill was then promoted to become an electrical supervisor and moved to the railway’s Polmadie base in his new role in 1974, and served there for more than four decades until retiring in 2005.