This is Mum on her wedding day looking radiant. The wedding took place in St. Peter’s church (now the church of St. Peter and St. Paul) in Aylesford, on 22nd September 1951.
A wedding photograph was published in the Kentish Gazette, prompting the manager of the local ABC cinema in Maidstone to write to my parents offering a complementary viewing of the 1951 British musical romantic-comedy “Happy Go Lovely”, starring David Niven, Vera-Ellen and Cesar Romero. I don’t know whether they actually took him up on the offer though.
Mum and Dad after the ceremony. By the time Mum passed away in 2013, they had been together for sixty-two years. Not bad going, by any standards! Dad was broken-hearted after Mum died, and followed her in 2017. I like to think they are now together again and happy, wherever they may be.
I think the best thing to do here is to quote from my Dad’s semi-autobiographical book "Wilkie’s War"!
"The register was signed, and we walked arm in arm down the aisle as man and wife. The Scouts and Cubs formed a guard of honour, and the photographers, including the press, took pictures. We were showered with confetti, and eventually reached the sanctuary of the bridal car. At last we were on our own, albeit only for a brief period before the reception in the village hall which was about a mile and a half away."
This is the obligatory family photo that all weddings must have! I don’t know the names of the bridesmaids (the two women at the extreme left and right of the photo holding flowers), or who the small girls at the front belong to – it was before my time!
Otherwise, from left to right, we have my paternal grandfather and grandmother, my uncle Ken, Dad, Mum, and my maternal grandmother and grandfather.