“When we returned to Stonehaven, there was news from Jeanette, my friend in Benalla, that she’d had a baby daughter so I bought wool and in two days completed jacket, bonnet and booties and mailed them off, prior to coming down for Yvonne Mills wedding.
Yvonne was married at Middleton Parish Church, 6 miles out of Manchester. Her mother’s cousin, with whom she was staying and who was giving her away, invited me to stay on the Friday night. So on Friday, I came down by train, and spent the night with Yvonne. It did seem strange that just over a week before I’d been to Dad’s funeral, so far from his family, and here I was with Yvonne being married so far from her home and people. I think she must have missed her Mother and home though she was very composed and said little of that. Things worked out quite differently for her in this country – she had no intention of marrying here when she left home. Here relations were very good to her, everything went off well, but I know it was nothing like the wedding she would have had at home. She looked lovely in a donkey brown coloured suit, slightly pinky, with pink blouse and simple close fitting hat, feather-trimmed, which was just right. The Church was beautiful and old, parts of it Norman, and with beautiful stained glass windows, and it was the church where her grandfather was married. The service itself was beautiful. Lawrie, her husband, seems a fine chap, and his parents are charming. I should guess ty looks and speech that the foreign element in their blood is Indian. I took a lot of photos, which I hope come out, and an official photographer took lots, some of which I hope to get. Her cousin roped in a friend of his to be best man, and I was unofficial bridesmaid i.e. was bridesmaid in everyway but standing in the service. I’d worn my blue woollen frock and Yvonne had ordered a spray which was sweet peas, pink and blue matching perfectly the frock. I wore the blue velvet beanie trimmed with a rose each side – pink and blue. But I’m too fat now to look nice in anything, so I hope the photos are flattering. I felt quite honoured to be signing the register. The second situation within the fortnight which I’d had no notion of when I left.”
Jean’s letter to her sister Mary, 31st July 1951, written in Stonehaven
