A WELL known couple in the Cowdenbeath area, Margaret and Pat Daly, have celebrated their diamond wedding.

Margaret and Pat are well kent faces in Lumphinnans, Cowdenbeath and Hill of Beath, and also in Blackpool, where they have been visitors more than once a year since they first met in the 1950s.

The couple, from James Street, Cowdenbeath, met in Lumphinnans Miners Welfare in 1956 and after three years courting married on July 17 1959 in the West Parish Church.

Pat worked, on leaving school, in the mining industry and had many years at the Nellie Colliery, in Lochgelly, then spent a period at Bogside Mine, before going to work at Rosyth Dockyard.

He became a TGWU official there and was involved in the first strike that took place at a Ministry of Defence establishment when a pay dispute escalated and staff walked out for eight weeks.

Said Pat: "It really was a highly unusual situation but the workforce were determined to see it through and we were out for a couple of months".

He was to work at the Dockyard for over 20 years and became a full-time TGWU official before retiring on health grounds.

Football has always been Pat's hobby and he began his involvement with Lumphinnans Amateurs and enjoyed his time there, but in 1990 he was approached by Hill of Beath Swifts' Tom Kay and he became involved in the highly successful youth football set-up which produced Rangers and Scotland midfielder Gordon Durie.

Pat said that Swifts' method was to take a team from an early age group right through to under 16 level, then start again!

The process produced some good players who made their name at senior and junior level. Said Pat: "In my time with the Swifts Gordon Durie was a product of the club who went right through our system and went on to become an international player.

"But there were many who did well in the game including Kenny Adamson, who played with Livingston and then became one of Cowdenbeath's longest serving players, and current Hill of Beath Hawthorn manager Kevin Fotheringham, who was also an outstanding talent and played senior.

"It was a joy to be part of a set-up which won the British Boys Cub title several times and it was good to see so many lads go on an play well at senior and junior levels."

Margaret worked at the Winterthur factory in Dunfermline for several years before going into the retail trade which she worked in for more than 20 years.

Her main hobby is bingo, which Pat enjoys playing as well and the couple, who have a daughter, three grandsons and two great granddaughters, enjoy caravanning and holidays.

But as Margaret explained they love visiting Blackpool: "The pair of us fell in love with Blackpool more than 50 years ago.

"We have seen things change but still love going at least once a year and sometimes a lot more."

The couple also have a lot of good friends who meet almost weekly at Hill of Beath Club and they also join them in visits to Blackpool.

On their Diamond Wedding Day, Wednesday July 17, they had special visitors in the shape of Cowdenbeath councillor Darren Watt, who presented flowers on behalf of Fife Council, and Depute Lieutenant Fiona MacLachlan represented the Fife Lieutenancy.