For David Lockhart spent decades as the village dentist in Strathaven, with his wife, Sandra, latterly working with him for more than a decade.

Being popular figures in Strathaven, they are not short of well-wishers on the wonderful achievement of 60 years of marriage, but they welcomed two additional guests who wanted to help them mark their special occasion.

South Lanarkshire Provost Margaret Cooper presented the couple with flowers, a special Provost’s bottle of whisky and a certificate on behalf of the council and Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Lanarkshire Dr William Morrison Young handed over a certificate to mark their achievement, with a congratulatory card also having been received from King Charles.

Both Sandra and David are originally from Edinburgh – Sandra growing up in various parts of the city, including Juniper Green, and attending St Serf’s School for Girls, and David being from Colinton Mains and attending the Royal High School.

After leaving school, Sandra worked as a comptometrist in the Civil Service. Comptometers were the first key-driven adding and calculating machines and were in use until the 1990s, long after modern calculators were commonplace, only being ultimately superseded by computers.

David studied Dentistry at Edinburgh University and initially practised in Edinburgh, and the pair met at the dancing after David had mustered up the courage to indirectly ask Sandra for a dance.

They were married at St Philip’s Church, Joppa, Edinburgh, in 1963 and the following year they moved to Strathaven. David became the established dentist in the village, proving to be a popular figure in the community and, for the last 12 years prior to his retiral in 1999, Sandra also worked in the practice.

In 1965 they had their first child, Susan, who was followed by Gavin in 1968 and Pamela in 1969 – and later became grandparents twice over, to Kyle in 2006 and then Katie in 2009.

Both were keen to contribute to the community, David through the Round Table and Sandra in the Ladies Circle, with both organisations being extremely active, especially through the 70s, while another passion they shared was curling – both at Lanarkshire Ice Rink with Avondale Heather, with Sandra also playing with Strathaven Ladies and David with the Golf Curling Club.

Even now, at the age of 85, if David is not to be found in the garden then it’s likely he’ll be at the ice rink. The couple still have a love for the sport of curling, and David still curls frequently through the season. Dad is also a loyal Hearts fan, a love he has passed on to Gavin.

They also have one more companion in Roxy, their West Highland Terrier, who – despite being an old lady herself – grabs all the love and attention available.