JOHN Hay already knew Muriel Brady from church in Linnvale when they ended up at the same gathering.

He spent the entire night wooing her to allow him to walk her home - only to be told he was in her house.

A healthy sense of humour has helped the Hay couple keep going strong ever since and at the weekend they marked 50 years of marriage surrounded by family.

“We were just in the right place at the right time,” said John of how they got together.

Their subsequent two-year courtship frequently saw them in groups of half a dozen or more friends - they didn’t get to walk home together on their own.

“We always seemed to be part of the crowd,” said John.

John was an apprentice engineer at John Brown’s and Muriel was a cashier in an accountant’s office in Glasgow.

The couple tied the knot on May 31, 1971.

Muriel later became a home help for 18 years and John was a “pinball” between different jobs within John Brown’s until 1997 when he became a technician in East Dunbartonshire schools.

Other than a brief period away in Clydebank’s Rosebury Place, Muriel, 73, and John, 70, have lived most of their lives in Linnvale, and decades across from Linnvale Primary where they, their children and grandchildren attended.

The pandemic saw them form an extended household with daughter Karen to support granddaughter Zoe.

It meant John and Muriel had to keep a bit more distance from Karen's son Andrew in Dumbarton, and their son Colin, his wife Lisa and daughter Emily. That, thankfully, has now ended.

They never had a particularly busy social life but John said he hoped to get back to badminton - which he has played for 40 years, many of them with Muriel - with friends, and they have started to catch up with others in recent weeks.

When asked what the secret is to five decades of marriage, John quipped: “I have no idea - I haven’t been told yet.”

Muriel added: “He likes to go to his golf and leaves me in peace. John has to have a sense of humour with me.”

John joked: “I’m just a dummy - there you are, you got it from the horse’s mouth.

“I think Colin has unfortunately been blessed with my horrible sense of humour.”

As well as the party at the weekend, the couple have been inundated with flowers and cards from wellwishers for their anniversary.

And there are plans to see relatives elsewhere in the UK through the summer for a “few different celebrations”.

“Then life goes back to hum drum,” John added with a smile.