The summer of 1966 was a busy one. Gill took her finals in French and German and came out with a 2:1. I had to spend time mapping my geology field area on the Roaches, near Leek in Staffordshire, and also had to attend a geology field trip in the Pyrenees. Our wedding was arranged for August 6th, and Gill worked at the local pub while she made her wedding dress.
We were married in the very pretty church in Cranham village. My extended family spent the previous night at The Bear at Rodborough, where my parents entertained Gill's to dinner after which my family retired to the bar until the late hours of early morning. I was woken by my father who brought me a gin and tonic to get me started on the day.
The weather was not kind, and Richard Keach, my best man's car, in which we travelled to the wedding, broke down in Stroud - but a very understanding garage got it quickly back on the road.
The photo above shows us at Cranham church, with my parents at left, Gill's at right, Ann Sumner, Gill's bridesmaid, and my best man, Richard Keach.
It was a large wedding with all the formalities. As well as the immediate families and close friends, Gill's father, as chief executive of Gloucester County Council, invited people from the Council some of whom Gill didn't know - but they were very generous with their gifts.
The reception was in a marquee in the grounds of Gill's home, Cranham Close. Despite the generous quantities of alcohol I had consumed both the previous evening and continued to enjoy at the reception, I drove us to Hay on Wye for the first night of our honeymoon. We continued the honeymoon at an hotel in Dolwyddelan, a small village in Snowdonia where I had attended a geology field trip. Being North Wales, it rained a fair bit but we didn't mind.
Keele had a policy of discouraging undergraduates from living off campus unless married or pregnant. We took a flat over a shop in Stone, a small market town to the south of Stoke-on-Trent and about half an hour from the university, an arrangement which I far preferred to living on campus. Gill had obtained a post as a teacher in the local convent, a job she hated partly because of the atmosphere in the school, partly because her hearing loss was beginning to affect her.
Despite that, we were happy at 14A Radford Street, just up from the Joules brewery. Brian and Val were frequent visitors and, with my grant and Gill's handsome salary of £960 per annum, we felt well-off.
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