ONE of the most familiar faces at East End Park believes plenty of "give and take" has been key to he and his wife reaching 60 years of marriage.

David Laming, a lifelong Pars fan well-known to supporters for volunteering in the club shop, and other half Janet are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary on Thursday, October 3.

The happy couple, who live on Halbeath Road, first met in August 1960 and tied the knot in St Margaret's Parish Church, of which they are still members, on October 3 1964.

David, 80, was working for Hills Laundry when he first asked Janet, 81, out on a date, by visiting the wool shop she worked in, Spence's, which was located across from the bus stance that took him home to Kelty.

"Two of us (David and a colleague) worked at Hills and we got the bus, were sitting up the front, and Janet and her friend used to stand out just before they shut the shop (Spence's) at six," David recalled.

"We started waving to them and then I took up the courage to go over and ask Janet out. Of course, I walked into the shop and she wasn't there!

"She was sitting through the back. She then came out and we spoke and I asked would you like to go out on a date, and that was it."

Janet, who laughs that her husband is her "toyboy", felt it was love at first sight, remembering: "I think so because my dad waited up for me. He said 'how did you get on hen', and I said, he seems a nice boy.

"He seemed a nice boy -he's still a nice boy!"

Janet, who stayed in Crombie at that time, and David went out that same evening and would eventually move in together in the New Row, and also lived opposite the former La Bella Palma on Pittencrieff Street.

After asking Janet's father for permission, David popped the question on June 21 1963, and then they married just over a year later.

The couple have two sons and four grandchildren, the youngest of whom has brought Scooby the dog into the family, but their children haven't inherited David's love of football.

He started watching the Pars in 1961, with Halbeath Road becoming "such an integral place in my life", and began volunteering with the club in 2004, two years before he retired.

David went on to work for the Co-op, as did Janet, before becoming transport manager for Central Farmers in Methil, and said of his work with the club: "I still get more out of the Pars than I put into it.

"Janet's been very supportive of me and I know that if she ever needs me, I'm only a minute along the road.

"I just love being involved and helping. As folk say to me, and it's not me saying it, I'm the face of the club because I'm the only one they'll see when they come in."

Whilst football has played a significant role in their lives together, their love of film, as well as spending time together enjoying meals out, also has done.

Janet, the oldest of six siblings, is hoping they will be treated to a meal to celebrate their landmark anniversary, having had a "big do" for their 50th at the Carnegie Conference Centre.

She said: "You've got to love each other. We were just lucky to get each other."

David added: "There's a lot of give and take. It'd be wrong to say that we've never had an argument, but never go to bed on an argument because it just festers.

"It's just common sense, it's give and take. You're both human beings. I don't look on Janet as my property, and she doesn't look on me as her property. We're married, and we took the vows then that we've stuck to."