15 March 1958  Joyce and I were married at King's Road Baptist Church, Brentwood, by Rev Gauldie Smith. Our 'official' wedding photographs were taken by Larry Morgan, our favourite photographer just down Kings Road, and they are of course monochrome. He sited his camera in the middle of Kings Road to take the large family group.  He was right in the path of a double decker bus coming down the road, but the driver didn't mind a bit!  My best man Jim Spearing took these with his colour camera, which was the latest thing at the time.  Many thanks, Jim!

 

We had a great Reception with friends and family in the Kings Hall, and then left by train for our Honeymoon in Cromer.  This photo was taken by Larry Morgan at the Reception, and the picture behind us is a copy of a well-known painting of Jesus looking at the Apostle Peter at the time just before His crucifixion.  We could have removed it, but decided to keep it in our wedding photograph, as a sign that we wanted to have Jesus in the centre of our future life together.  We always tried to follow that principle throughout the 44 years we were able to spend together, and He never let us down.

After our honeymoon, we came to live in our first home, at 19 Rose Glen, a brand-new semi-detached house on the Moulsham Lodge Estate in Chelmsford.

  This was convenient for me, as I worked in Chelmsford, so there was no need for me to travel, as I did before we were married.  Also. houses in Brentwood were more expensive than Chelmsford, so this helped us make the decision where we should live. We were blessed to be able to afford this at the start of our married life, thinking of the huge difficulties young couples have today to start on the housing ladder.  We had the basic furniture for kitchen, dining room and bedroom, but no fridge, hoover or carpet on the stairs, items that would be considered basic today!  But we were happy, and grateful to have our own home and permanent work to bring home just enough money each month.