2 September 1978

On this day, 30 years ago, a young girl from Surrey got ready at her parents home in Leatherhead and in the bright autumn sunshine she headed to the church with her father. Awaiting her arrival was a young man from Yorkshire who stood at the front of the church with his best man. On this day, 30 years ago a love affair which started in the meadows of Oxford on the banks of the Cherwell and played out across the city of dreaming spires culminated in a beautiful wedding.

And how do I know this? Well, that young girl and young man became my parents, 3 and a bit years later and I have heard about the wedding and gazed at the photographs in their frames and albums, sepia tinged with age. The young couple, 3 years younger than I am now, for this year I am exactly half their age, look identical to their present selves, give or take a line or two. Some of their guests look so very seventies but somehow my parents themselves look ageless.

So, happy 30th wedding anniversary, Mummy & Daddy; thank you for the best start to married life I could wish for next year - the love and support of two people whose marriage encapsulates everything I hope for my own.

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