October 26th was a very special day when our older son Simon married Ruth on Concorde - 1st class cabin of course - with immediate family and special friends around them. And quite a lot of hilarity as Concorde is very small, intimate you might say, and involved careful head and feet shuffling and positioning for the registrar, readers, ring bearers and so on.
This was at Brooklands, the museum once the haunt of racing car enthusiasts but now perhaps as famous for special planes like Concorde. We had plenty of opportunities to view its special features from the cabin to the cockpit to that remakable nose underneath which we enjoyed champagne and canapes while the photos were taken.
Altogether this was a joyous family occasion. We all stayed at the Brooklands Hotel on site for a pre-wedding dinner and post wedding breakfast on the 27th so the laughter was spread out. This was all part of a very well co-ordinated plan by Ruth and Simon. Her dress was gorgeous, knee length in ivory, with purple petticoat, shoes and accents, much easier for negotiating Concorde and for dancing later. The flowers and Club Room decorations were all of course part of the plan.
In the evening, after the Wedding Breakfast, we had two excellent guitarists who played a range of 'golden oldies' for our enthusiastic dancers (and singers). Ruth and Simon cut an impressive dash, with their first (and second!) dances. One very clever was a ukelele special (YMCA!) for all the ukelele players in the families (a surprisingly large number ) to join in.
And the Wedding cake was made of cheese, lots of varieties, charmingly arranged...
And that wasn't the end of this Wedding' surprises! Even more unusual perhaps was the event just before the 'Breakfast'. Brooklands is the keeper of the last surviving WW2 serving Wellington bomber, the one that was hauled out of Loch Ness 30 or so years ago where it had crashed on a training flight. Simon' grandfather was the last surving air crew who was navigator on this actual plane in one of the earliest bombing raids of the War, on the German Naval base at Heliogoland.
Here we had the great opportunity to hand over his log books, the record of his whole 20 year flying career, to Brooklands' new resource centre. He flew 43 different planes but he had a special place in his heart for this Wellington, R for Robert. And I gave a little talk on this remarkable plane particularly its structure of aluminium struts...and canvas!
What a wonderful day we had, and we were very grateful to Ruth and Simon for this opportunity. We're very proud of them, and very happy to see a son so happily settled. And my father would have been thrilled.
Concorde was on my bucket list, too late fly but at least we had a taste of of the Concorde glamour and excitement. The previous weekend we ticked The Shard, a sparkly new attraction on my list. The views were certainly spectacular, over the River Thames and for miles in all directions.
The same week we even managed to catch up with some of our oldest friends and flatmates, gathered in Norfolk for an 80th birthday party. Such a treat to see these friends after so many years. And so little changed, except for Judy who has charmingly curly hair after a lifetime of straight hair and a nasty encounter with breast cancer. Lots of happy uni memories of the past..as well as a delightful peek into the future!
