Unlikely romance is still the picture of happiness

Elsie Francis fell for husband George before the two had even met. Mr Francis was serving in the Palestine Police Force at the time and had been writing to a girl in the Harthill Co-operative office, where Mrs Francis worked.

A photograph of him in the Middle Eastern territory had caught her eye, but she was still only a teenager and, at 12 years her senior, Mr Francis seemed unattainable.

The other girls in the office laughed when Mrs Francis, now 78, revealed her affections for the older gentleman. Even she was amused by the notion of them being together, but when Mr Francis returned to Scotland after two years abroad, suddenly it seemed a more realistic prospect.

Mr Francis's cousin introduced the pair at a dance just before Mrs Francis - born Elsie Drinnan - turned 16, and their romance soon flourished. They were engaged for a year before they married at Whitburn's Brucefield Church on March 24, 1951. They went on to set up home in the town and now live in Windyknowe Crescent, Bathgate.

Described as a fit and energetic man, Mr Francis was a driver for the regional council when he retired, but had previously been a miner and, in the mid-1970s, a church officer at Edinburgh's St George's West Church. His wife held many jobs in her time, but the one she remembers most fondly is a stint as a manageress at a warehouse company in Edinburgh, where the couple lived for five years.

The Lanarkshire-born couple have two daughters - Lizann, 58, who lives in the United States, and Marion, 56. Five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren complete the four generations of the Francis clan.

It was the younger of the couple's daughters who organised a party to mark their diamond wedding anniversary, with friends and family gathering at the Cairn Hotel, Bathgate. Lizann was unable to make the trip from her home in Virginia, but Mrs Francis's niece, Jean, who was a flower girl at the wedding, managed to attend.

After 60 years, Mrs Francis joked that it is her good nature that has kept her marriage alive, not to mention the couple's mutual tolerance and long-lasting chemistry. She said she was always the more fun-loving of the two, with her other half a little more sober.

She said: "It's hard to say what has kept us going, it's certainly not always a bed of roses, but that adds a bit of spice to life. You wouldn't want it to be perfect all the time."

Mrs Francis said that, even though her husband recently celebrated his 90th birthday, he has held on to his looks and was still able to fit into his wedding suit after as long as 20 years. It seems Mr Francis, like his marriage, was built to last.