IT was the year that BBC Two began broadcasting; the Queen and Prince Philip's fourth child was christened Edward; and Can't Buy Me Love by The Beatles was at the top of the hit parade.

But one Auchinleck couple have an additional, very special, reason for remembering the spring of 1964 with a great deal of fondness...because that was when they tied the knot.

Sixty years on, William and Betty Murdoch are still happily married - and they welcomed three very special visitors to their home recently to help mark their diamond wedding anniversary.

East Ayrshire's depute provost, Claire Leitch, and Councillor Alyson Simmons - both of them councillors for the Ballochmyle ward, where the Murdochs live - called in to pass on messages of congratulation on the happy occasion and to present them with a bouquet of flowers as a gift from East Ayrshire Council.

William and Betty had a third special visitor too, in the form of Ayrshire deputy lieutenant Eric Ross, who - as well as passing on his own congratulations - presented the couple with a card from the King and Queen Consort.

Congratulations from all at the Chronicle to William and Betty - and here's to many more years together!