Submitted by Sheila Clarkson, St Austell, Cornwall
A Country Wedding
In 1957, Viv my supervisor in the machine room at the National Provincial Bank, Maidstone, Kent, invited me to go with her and some friends to a Tennis Club Dance at Chiesmans. I eagerly accepted her invitation and then went out to buy a dress for the occasion. It was a Susan Small Model and I bought it in William Morling’s in the High Street. We were well paid and I had no other commitments, but I had rather extravagant tastes for a bank clerk. It was a lovely dress and I felt good in it. It was black taffeta with fine bands of royal blue and silver lurex thread patterned at intervals like the lines of a musical score. There was a bow on each shoulder strap and the full ballerina-length skirt was pleated into the waist.
The first time I wore the dress, however, at the Tennis Club Dance, I felt very shy, as I did not know any of Viv’s friends. They all got up to dance and I was left holding their handbags.
Then fate took a hand. Joan had seen me standing there and told her younger brother, Ron, to ask me for a dance. I forget what happened to the handbags, but Ron and I danced together for the rest of the evening.
In those days Ron was a keen tennis player, but in the winter he played hockey. On 27 April 1958, Brenda and I went with him to the Thanet Hockey Festival. He also enjoyed coming with us to the local horse racing at point-to-points.
After about six months we became engaged and when we told Ron’s mother she thought ‘it was a bit quick’. I chose an engagement ring with three diamonds like Mum’s.
One day, cycling to work to save 7/6 a week on bus fares, I noticed that a firm called Phillips were building houses at Gatland Lane, near Barming within walking distance of Maidstone where we both worked. A semi-detached house with three bedrooms was £2,250.00 plus £150.00 for a garage. Dad’s wedding present was £250.00 as the deposit on our first home and we chose 5 Cowdrey Close named after Colin Cowdrey, Kent cricketer as the builders were cricket enthusiasts. The small estate was built in an orchard and we kept a few pear trees in our garden. We had a lovely view across an apple orchard to the village of West Farleigh.
We were married on 15 August 1959 at St Lawrence Church, Mereworth, Kent and luckily it did not rain. I went to night school to make my wedding dress of ivory brocade in princess style with pointed cuffs. Margaret Honey lent me her coronet and Auntie Edie made the veil. My sister Brenda was bridesmaid and Ron’s brother, Don, was best man. Robert, Ron’s four year old nephew, was page boy and wore a kilt. We invited only about thirty guests and prepared our own buffet on the morning of the wedding. To our surprise, Ron’s friends and colleagues from Springfield (Kent County Council Architects’ Department), formed an arch of T-squares as we came out of the church. It was a perfect day.
Sheila's wedding in 1959
The reception was held in our garden at Highlands Farm with seating provided by upturned wooden bushel boxes which normally held 40lb of apples or pears. It was a very rural scene bringing back memories of H. E. Bates’ ‘Darling Buds of May’. Mike, my cousin Pam’s husband, took a wonderful cine film which we later transferred to video and eventually to DVD.
Then after the reception we drove to West Malling railway station en route to Bournemouth for our honeymoon, complete with tin cans tied to the back of Don’s VW ‘Beetle’ car.
Another chapter of our lives was about to begin, in which we were later to move from the ‘apple blossom ’ of Kent to the coast of Cornwall.