Andrew and Margaret celebrate 60 happy years

DIAMOND couple Andrew and Margaret Williamson have celebrated sixty happy years of marriage with a family meal at their Midlothian home.

Andrew, 82, and Margaret Williamson, 80, who live in Penicuik, celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary last Wednesday.

The couple married at St Giles Registry Office in Edinburgh on August 4, 1950 after meeting four years earlier.

Their son Albert, 57, said: "They met when my dad was working at Pentland Garage in Loanhead. My mother was staying at a caravan site in Pentland and she had to pass the garage going back and forward, and she just stopped one day and they started chatting."

Mr Williamson, who has multiple sclerosis, spent his working life as an HGV driver at Pentland Garage before being made redundant due to ill health around the age of 60.

Mrs Williamson was working at a local bakery when she met her husband-to-be and later took a job as a cleaner at the YMCA in Penicuik, where she also helped with reception duties. She retired at the age of 60.

The great-grandparents, who live on Jackson Street, have three children - Anne, 59, Albert, 57, and Seonaid, who is in her early 40s.

They also have four grandchildren, Jackie, 37, Robert, 33, Robbie, 21, and Ben, 7, as well as five great-grandchildren - two girls and three boys.

Albert added: "My mother likes shopping and my dad has a wee flutter on the horses every second day. He also goes to Broomhill Day Centre on a Friday where he chats to the other people and plays dominoes."

Mr and Mrs Williamson received a card from the Queen to mark their anniversary and were also visited by Depute Provost, councillor Margot Russell, on their special day.

Albert, who lives in Penicuik, said his parents weren't sure what the secret of a long and happy marriage was, adding: "I have asked them before what the secret is but they just don't know."

Mrs Williamson is originally from St Boswells in the Scottish Borders, while her husband was brought up in Old Pentland, just outside Loanhead.

Albert added: "They celebrated their anniversary with a quiet dinner with immediate family in the house. They enjoyed themselves and we clubbed together to get them a present. They got a lovely bunch of flowers from Midlothian Council."