The wedding

The bride. Liz when a guide and  at engagement party

 I had made life difficult for myself by becoming a Catholic as I had to produce more documents! Simon received communion whch made me very happy. Down the aisle to Karg-Elert Nun danket. Beforehand Rhosymedre to calm me down! Photos - Our Lady of Victories has since been transformed!Car to De Vere hotel and then reception and speeches. Dad recorded piano music for it. It all went so quickly and so many people we knew were there from all over the country - Lana (in hat) Ron, Betty and Stan standing in for Mum and Dad, Newcastle in strength but no Nellie, Pauline Clarke from Norwich. We left to "Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye" taxi to Rubens hotel. Got to room and suit full of confetti. Promptly burst into tears because I was so happy and I really missed Ann and Mum and Dad. Dinner sent champagne back - not cold enough. So to bed after many months of waiting!
Next day Mass at Westminster cathedral and to the airport to go to Munich. Coach to Austria dropping off people at grand hotels. Our hotel at Traunkirchen was small and goat's cheese was served. Oh well nothing else have to eat it! An idyllic time - it was where Brahms composed the second symphony and Wolf loved it - that was good enough for me! Trips to salt mine, Salzburg and wonderful Vienna and the musical instrument museum. On the last night everyone came on our balcony which was the biggest for the fireworks over the lake and somebody mixed my drinks. I was sick! Liz swam in the cold lake I didn't! At that stage I had not had lessons - only when at school.

Engaged

My diary shows that the date was fixed very quickly by October 15th. Father Eldridge, Simon and Carole were informed. We had an engagement party on Nov 17. The first 6 months of 1973 I worked in Tower Hamlets libraries which was often extremely dull. I took every opportunity to visit galleries and operas. St Michael's Cornhill went well and I seem to have recorded items according to my diary. Liz gets mentioned a lot. So I was very busy (what's news) plus commuting from Ealing having left the flat in Clapham South after finding a cat hair in my breakfast egg. She probably was not allowed to have a lodger in a council flat! The move to the BBC library Brentford meant an easy coach commute from Ealing and cooked lunches in the Ealing canteen chatting about the chorus every day with oone of the altos.Simon and Jenny Moore are much in evidence.  Of couse I had to commute but by then I was at 99 Oxford Gardens chastely in the living room on a put you up. 2 buses every day. Late nights were not fun getting home. 

Liz's aunts K and Sheila in South Africa

Lyn had been a good friend to me at Ealing making sure I got a bedsit in the house.

These are 2 spoof cards of films as we used to catalogue them at the BBC. One reason I left was that a man in our office was promoted who did no work at all! Most people were there just get into the BBC. One compensation was being able to watch films of concerts like Giulini conducting the War requiem at the Albert Hall.