大象传媒

My parents, Ivor Warren and Margaret "Peggy" Dickinson married in Fuller Baptist Church, Kettering on 15th August 1945. It is believed that they were the first peace-time wedding in Kettering.

They had planned their wedding for sometime and the family had all rallied round saving coupons for the cake, the dresses etc. They had met in Cambridge where Ivor worked for a timber merchant and Peggy was a junior school teacher.

Ivor was the third child, second son, of Eustace Warren (a station master) and his wife Emma. Peggy was the only child of Alfred Dickinson (a director of Timsons Ltd) and Constance, his wife.

During the war Ivor served as an Air-Raid Warden and, as a student in Nottingham, Peggy had done regular fire watch for the city. Peggy had originally planned to train at Goldsmith's College in London but got evacuated to Nottingham. Ivor failed the medical for active service so kept the wheels of business rolling in Cambridge for Cyril Ridgeon and Son Ltd.

Ivor's previous fiancee died of natural causes. Peggy's first love was a pilot, killed on active service in the war. They met in the amateur dramatic society at their local Cambridge church. Dad and Mum played a variety of roles opposite each other - once she was his mother, another time his sister. Dad always said it was only when they married that they got the relationship finally sorted!

They had planned a quiet wedding but, come the day, it turned out to be anything but. It was a public holiday and it seemed half the people of Kettering turned up to help celebrate this special event. The photographer refused to work on a public holiday so they had to make do with snaps taken by friends. The rail tickets they had purchased for reserved seats proved useless on their honeymoon because the trains either weren't running or were over-full. They had to stand all the way to the Lake District for their honeymoon - not what they'd planned at all.

My mother remembers the shame of having to go away with papers still in her maiden name because the Registry Office which could have issued her new papers in her married name was also shut. My father carried the marriage licence around all honeymoon as proof of them being man and wife. Nobody would worry in 2005 about such things but in 1945 they certainly did.

Their tiny bridesmaid had to be carried through the crowds outside the church by a policeman. Inside the church, it was standing room only for a wedding previously intended for about 50 guests. Firecrackers went off throughout the ceremony and to the day he died, Dad always maintained his "I will" was drowned out so nobody ever knew if he said it or not!

He also said it was the day one war ended and another began but, notwithstanding this bit of humour, Dad and Mum went onto celebrate their Golden Wedding before Dad died and Mum lives on to this day at the end of 2005. On 15th August 2005, the family joined her to celebrate what would have been her Diamond Wedding anniversary if Dad had lived. The 60th anniversary commemoration has been very special for her therefore.

My parents never forgot their wedding day - and, as a family neither do we. Every time a big commemoration is held for VJ Day, we give thanks for Mum and Dad's wedding on that self-same day. A very special event.

I, Janet Payne (nee Warren), their daughter am pleased to contribute their story to this site. Ivor and Peggy had two children, myself and my older brother, Edward. We have both married and my mother now has four, adult grandsons and one adult grand-daughter. Her eldest grandson is also now married and, in July 2005 Mum became a great-grandmother for the first time. Dad would have been so proud too.

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