A CLYDEBANK couple who have been together since their teens are celebrating their golden anniversary this week.

Jeanette and Peter Greenlees married on June 6, 1968 at Faifley Parish Church, exactly four years after they started chatting to each other at a party in Dalmuir.

Their wedding was reported in the Post at the time as Jeanette worked in the town hall. Although it rained initially on their wedding day, the couple remember the sun was shining as they came out of the church.

The couple, who are now members of Radnor Park Bowling Club, then went on to enjoy a great reception with family and friends at the West Highway Motel, now the West Park Hotel, where Jeanette’s father and Peter’s uncle memorably took to the stage to help out with the band for fun.

Following the reception, their start to married life took a rather comical turn, however, and the couple laughed as they recalled the pranks that had been set up by friends in their new home.

Jeanette explained: “It was a good reception, but when we went home we opened the door and there were lumps of coal in the teapot.

“We had received presents that day which I hadn’t seen and Peter said they were under the unit, so I sat on the edge of the bed to pick them up and the leg fell off the bed.

“My mother had given them keys to get in and Peter’s pals had come down and put in all these silly things. They had taken the bulbs out of the lights and put oranges in the them instead and screwed the leg off the bed.

“It was for fun and years ago those were the kinds of things people did. They don’t do that now because most folk live together when they get married, but we didn’t.

“We never got to the root of who exactly did it.”

Following their wedding, the couple had a nice time honeymooning in Whitley Bay, that was at least after a slight issue with their accommodation had been resolved.

Jeannette added: “We’d booked into a boarding house and when we got there, the lady said she wasn’t expecting us until the following week.

“But she said if we went away she would get everything sorted out and she did. Whitley Bay was lovely and we went back a few years later with Peter’s mum.”

The couple went on to have two children, Derek and Jeanette, and now enjoy spending time with their grandchildren, Brandon and Lucy.

They also like going on holiday and are set to travel to America later this year for their nephew’s wedding.

But their best trip to date was to the Panama Canal about three years ago, said Peter, who also fondly recalled their best date as when the pair went on tram ride to discover where Auchenshuggle was.

“The terminus was Auchenshuggle and we always wanted to see where it was, so one Sunday night we just went to the terminus and came back again,” he laughed.

Now on weekends Jeanette and Peter spend their time socialising at the Radnor Park Bowling Club, where Peter is the treasurer and Jeanette helps out if there is a function on.

It is there that they will celebrate 50 years of marriage with friends and family at an anniversary party this Friday.

When asked about the key to such a long-lasting union, Jeanette told the Post: “It is important to be there for one another.”

While Peter added: “Maybe we have been lucky, but we just do things together.”