Filmed almost 60 years ago, it offers a heart-warming glimpse of Dalkeith and its people as they were when the town's post-war shopping precinct still smelled of fresh concrete and paint.
A piece of rare colour footage has appeared online which shows scenes around Dalkeith in 1964, including town centre sights, familiar landmarks and some of the people who lived and worked there at the time.
Uploaded to YouTube by Sandy Howden, the 20-minute-long silent home movie makes up for its lack of audio by offering us views of the Midlothian market town that have otherwise been lost to history.
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Instantly recognisable albeit far less busy than it is today is Dalkeith's High Street. In 1964, the shops and flats that make up the town's main shopping precinct were brand spanking new and it's fascinating to see them here in their early days.
On what looks to have a fairly bright, spring day, well-dressed families are captured going about their daily business, venturing in and out of the shops, while children play in the precinct and even have a wee splash in the fountain.
While the quality of the digitised footage isn't terrific, it's good enough for us to make out the names of a few businesses from yesteryear, including Crawfords the bakers, the "lively" general store Manchester House, and Bennett's Travel.
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In one scene, ladies from William Stewart's motor garage, in their tidy white uniforms and 1960s hairstyles, are seen waving at the camera. Another shows a vintage-looking camper van attached to a beautiful looking dark blue car outside Kemp's Printing works.
It's also fascinating to see just how quiet the roads were in these days, with car ownership far lower than it is in 2023, and with just the odd coach and green SMT bus whizzing by.
The last part of the film shows the faces of some of the people living and working around Dalkeith and its fringes, including the historic Newbattle Abbey.
There's also a couple of scenes showing the town's Ferranti engineering works. Ferranti, which opened its Dalkeith plant in 1963, was a major employer in the area at the time with around 600 people on its books.
To view the film in its entirety, click here.
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