Your parents courtship

My mum met my dad at the street party following the late Queens Coronation in 1953 both aged 15. Married at 19 and had 64 happy years together.

My parents both worked for the Post Office as counter clerks. My father sent her a Valentine in February 1949. I don't think she knew who it was from. I believe he proposed to her on their first date. They were married on December 31st that year and celebrated their 50th anniversary at the millenium. They loved each other very much although they didn't have much money and dad's health wasn't good. They had been married for 53 years when he died and mum lived on for another 13 years.

My two grandfathers (Bert & Sid) were pals during WW1. When Bert's son (my dad) had a short leave from the Army in 1939, Bert asked him to drop in on his old mate Sid to pay his respects. Sid's daughter (my mum) answered dad's knock at the front door. They married the following year. Love at first sight? Who knows? They divorced after 26 years anyway (she met someone she liked better, and I don't know whether that was l-a-f-s either. How quickly people fall in love seems kind of irrelevant when you know how the romance ended.

My mother was from York. She joined the Wrens and was stationed in London in the war.

She and her best pal were walking past the Regent Palace Hotel and mum noticed there was a dance on so persuaded her friend (who wasn’t keen) to go in with her.

There she met my father, a Canadian soldier whose family originated from Glasgow. He was twelve years her senior, previously married with a son. I gather it was a whirlwind romance and my sister was born in 1945.

After the war my father transferred to the British Army and ended up in the Royal Army Education Corps until his death at age 58 when I was 9 years old.

I wonder how many years of marriage are in this thread?

As to the speed people married my lovely lady, Connie, told me "Well if you wanted sex, you had to!"

Connie was a resident in a home I worked in.

My parents met on a walking holiday in the Peak District in 1937. Holiday Fellowship I think. Mum was 27 Dad was 21. She worked for Chase Manhattan Bank in London, he for an insurance company. My paternal grandfather was concerned about the age gap but they eventually married, with his blessing, in early 1941 by which time Dad was in the Army. She wore a green tweed suit, he his uniform. He was posted 4 weeks after the wedding and didn’t return home until April 1946. A long time! After a full term still birth in ‘47 I arrived the following year the much wanted and sadly, only child. They remained devoted to each other for 56 years until Mum died in 1997. He did his best but was a lost soul without her and died 4 years later.

Oh thanks.
A photo!!

Both looking very glamorous, your mum, what a great figure!!

Mum's father was a bo'sun on board a cable-laying ship, going between England and Canada to lay and repair the telephone cables. He lived in Canada, but if the ship was going to stay in England for any amount of time, my grandmother and their two daughters would come over to Plymouth and the girls would go to school there. And that is where Mum and Dad met, at school.

In the 30's, Grandfather quit the cable ships and they all went back to Canada, permanently. Mum and Dad then became penfriends for several years.

In 1939 when war was announced, Dad wrote " There is going to be a war. If you will marry me, please come as soon as possible". That letter was carried on the very first air postal delivery service - I still have the commemorative envelope with the letter inside.

And yes , reader, she did marry him. Caught the first ship out of Halifax, Nova Scotia and sailed to Liverpool. Caught the train to Plymouth and they were married a month later, in October 1939. Totally devoted to each other for 60 years.

There are some lovely stories on this thread.

stella1949 I hope they were safe in Plymouth; my MIL and in fact my DH remember the bombings.

Just think, we have all the warnings to ensure we know someone properly, and yet parents often took a giant leap of faith to follow their hearts.

So did I 😁

I've been too sensible.
That's my problem.

Dad had plenty of demob fags and mum had been dumped at cinema.

Not a match made in heaven
5 years in between accidental babies ,

MissAdventure

Oh thanks.
A photo!!

Both looking very glamorous, your mum, what a great figure!!

Unfortunately a figure not inherited by yours truly 😂.

I'm not sure about true love being more true in those days MissAdventure.
Mum met father at a mutual friend's house, married and had a honeymoon baby. Then his extra marital affairs began, all through their marriage until Mum died aged fifty eight.

MissAdventure

I've been too sensible.
That's my problem.

I remember an uncle (aunt's husband) saying to me when I got engaged to DH "I thought you were so flighty you'd never settle down"!
I was all of 21 then 😁

My parents marriage was one made in hell.
Worst mistake mum ever made.
Sad really.

Pillpopper

I'm not sure about true love being more true in those days MissAdventure.
Mum met father at a mutual friend's house, married and had a honeymoon baby. Then his extra marital affairs began, all through their marriage until Mum died aged fifty eight.

Yes, thats true of a lot of romances, then, I reckon.
What a pity for the women, back then.

Ditto silverlining. This is a lovely thread though.

Yes it is Kate

I think it's one of the loveliest threads for a while on GN. The people, the places, the jobs, the dreams! Thank you MissAdventure.

It must be sad having nothing amusing or romantic to recount.
I am sorry.

It sort of reminds me of "her upstairs".

Went down the aisle pregnant, with a black eye... he used to knocker and the children about.

Sorry state of affairs, but we barely speak these days, so I don't feel so responsible for her.

Oh, you're welcome, escaped.
I'm just a nosy crab.

There’s always a silverlining MissA

Yes, your parents had you.
Now there's a real silverlining, in more ways than one.