A couple spending their diamond wedding anniversary apart because of the coronavirus outbreak got a special treat to make their celebrations a little sweeter thanks to their local supermarket.

Ken and Alice McGinley, from Johnstone near Paisley, married 60 years ago but have been living separately since Alice, who has dementia, moved into a care home last year.

When former Royal Engineer Ken, 81, contacted his local Asda to try and order a cake to send to Alice, 77, to mark the occasion last Thursday, staff there went one better.

Ken said: “They were very understanding and they took my name and address and the next day they phoned me to say they’d got me a cake with all the decorations on.

“I asked when I would go and collect it and they said they would deliver it to me and it would be all free of charge. It really was such a wonderful gesture.”

They also sent Ken, who used to visit Alice every day until the Covid-19 pandemic made that impossible, a separate cake of his own and a box of chocolates, a gesture he said left him feeling “overwhelmed”.

He added: “It was such a surprise. It just made me and my daughter’s Louise’s day.”

Ken decided to donate the gifts to other residents in Cochrane Care Home, where Alice lives, so Louise took them along with the cake, candles and a card from Asda staff.

The care home threw a celebration for Alice with the other residents.

Doreen Smith, activities coordinator at the care home, said: “It was just a lovely gesture for Asda to do something special like that in these difficult circumstances. Gestures like that mean so much to our residents at the moment.”

She added: “Alice is a very popular lady who’s always smiling and chatting. She also loves to dance and Ken’s a bit of a character too and very popular with the staff here – he’s a very kind man.”

Ken thanked the staff at the care home for looking after Alice and added: “I can’t wait to see her again when this thing is all over so we can celebrate properly.”