Hallglen gran and twins star in Blue Peter 60th anniversary special

Ann MacFarlane and grandsons Marcus and Luke, both eight, were entered as “generation badge holders” by Ann’s son David - who was aware his mum had been a major fan of the show for many years.

But even so he couldn’t have expected that his family would be chosen as the only representatives from Scotland to appear in a poignant montage in the very special episode to be shown on CBBC at 5pm.

They appear during a moving poem about the joys and challenges of life recited by Tony Walsh, famous for his “This Is The Place” tribute to Manchester.

Ann still has her two badges, bronze and silver, collected from the programme when she was a schoolgirl 51 years ago.

“Marcus and Luke received their badges after writing to Blue Peter in August”, she said.

“I gave them a copy of my Blue Peter letter to attach to their application, which was from 51 years ago and signed by Biddy Baxter (the show’s long term producer back in the 60’s)”.

Like so many grans and granddads who followed the show all those years ago she can only remember ever seeing it in black and white - in the days when Valerie Singleton, John Noakes and Shep the dog were massive household names across Britain.

She said: “I remember as a girl going home to see it - and have silver and bronze Blue Peter badges from all those years ago.”

She added: “I received a letter from Blue Peter when the boys got their badges, and that (ship) emblem brought it all back.”

She joked: “Unfortunately they could not give me a gold badge as I am 16 plus years!

“They did however award me with a Blue Peter emblem, which I will treasure”.

The team filmed Ann and her grandsons at their dad’s house at the beginning of the month - but they only found out yesterday that they would be part of the celebration coverage.