Real Lives: Ballroom bliss that set in train a lifetime together

Mr Gracie, 83, a former stationmaster in Midlothian, and his wife, also 83, a handicrafts teacher, were married in Strathesk Church, Musselburgh, on September 15, 1951.

Originally from Fauldhouse, Mr Gracie met his wife, who was born on the Rosebery Estate, at the Empress Ballroom in Dalkeith.

He said: “It was 1947 and I was in the RAF. I had been called up and had come up here on leave.

“I met her at the Empress Ballroom. That was where we danced a couple of times that night.

“We then wrote to each other for a whole two years.”

After their wedding, the couple set up home in Musselburgh and eventually moved to Fife with Mr Gracie’s work.

After completing his National Service, he got a job as a booking clerk on the railways and eventually became a station master based, over the years, at six different stations.

He was in charge at Bonnyrigg then Lundin Links, Kilconquhar and Elie in Fife before eventually returning to Midlothian.

In later years he served as station master at Rosewell and Hawthornden, which was responsible for the Whitehill colliery and brickworks and Rosslynlee Hospital, and finally at Penicuik, which served the papermills.

When the couple arrived in Penicuik, there was no station house, so they moved into a property in Windsor Square, which they have made their home for 49 years.

Mr Gracie eventually transferred to Glasgow, where he spent 11 years as a freight inspector, retiring as chief freight inspector for the Scottish region of railways.

He retired in 1984 aged 55 years and then worked as a gardener with Edinburgh Crystal for the next 11 years.

Mrs Gracie worked closely with the elderly residents of Pentland House.

The couple, both members of Kirkhill Bowling Club, have two sons – Brian and Derek – and three grandsons.

They were joined by family for a diamond wedding meal at the Craigiebield House Hotel, Penicuik.