Wedded bliss (From Oxford Mail)

Wedded bliss

3:00pm Monday 30th January 2012 in Memory Lane By John Chipperfield

THE bride and groom were a little under-dressed for their big day.

Even their ‘guests’ hardly looked the part, with one wearing what looks like a football shirt!

But no worries – this was just a mock wedding.

A big royal event – the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981 – was fast approaching.

And teachers at Church Cowley St James CofE First School in Oxford decided it would be a good idea to explain to the children what would happen at St Paul’s Cathedral later that month.

Rather than tell them in class, they all trooped off to St James Church, Cowley, for a mock ceremony.

Clare Guard, eight, and Mark Jarvis, nine, at the front of the group above, were chosen as bride and groom. They then picked their best man and bridesmaids.

Inside the church, they were taken through the marriage service by local vicar, Father Gerald Cox.

When the ‘married’ couple and guests emerged, Oxford Mail photographer Clive Postlethwaite was there to record it for posterity.

Father Cox said afterwards: “A number of the children had not been to a wedding. When they come to watch the Royal wedding on television, they will have a little idea of what is happening and will remember what happened at our church.”