Zambia World Wide

The year is now 1968 and we have decided to get married, we have the approval of our parents and have been to see the Vicar at Saint Nicholas Parish Church. The church is situated in the centre of town at the north end of the market. To get married in a particular church you must be a resident of that parish. To get round the problem we gave the address of a lady Jan was friendly with. We agreed on a date for the wedding which would be the 21^st September in the afternoon. Over the next few months we had great fun organising the guest list, ordering flowers and carnations, arranging the caterers and booking the room for the reception, we chose Mathes in King Street. We also went house hunting and finally settled on a two bedroom bungalow in Bradwell which is a suburb of Great Yarmouth. We also went to Norwich to arrange for Jan’s wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses as these would be made to measure. Then last but not least we went through holiday brochures to book our honeymoon. All the planning went well and the big day finally arrived, we were all nervous but excited at the same time. Early morning I drove out and collected the flowers and carnations, others were checking catering arrangements and cars plus other details that might have been overlooked. After which it was time to get dressed for the wedding. The Wedding was a great success and all went as planned, the church bells rang, the choir sang and the organ played. The atmosphere was romantic and yet at the same time exciting, it made all the preparation worthwhile.

The wedding breakfast was in the afternoon, which consisted of a sit down meal, toasts, reading of telegrams and reading of greeting cards then much dancing. Since many of the people we invited were working during the day we had a buffet and live group in the evening. Even today so many years later I still feel I was very lucky to have met and married Jan, the most gorgeous and radiant bribe ever. We had decided to stay in our own home on our wedding night and leave a day later for our honeymoon. We had booked ten days at a small Spanish fishing village called Canet which was approximately ten miles from Callela, a large resort and very popular with tour companies. We stayed at a small Pension, we thought at first we had made a mistake but were wrong. The village was natural and unspoilt also very picturesque with a small harbour and fishing boats plus the usual cafés and bars and of course the village square. Some of the places we went to have been mentioned earlier so I will skip over them. On this trip we had the opportunity to go horse riding in the mountains and stop for a barbecue in the evening before returning to the village. The whole evening was fun although I think if the horses had been blindfolded they would have still found their way there and back. We also took the local train to Callela and spent the day around the town and on the beach. It made a change from our village, we also bought souvenirs to take back for relatives and friends.

In Canet we spent most of our time on the beach or wandering through the groynes looking at all kinds of sea insects and small fish. Most lunchtimes we would sit and eat at the local café in the village square and just watch life go by. There was very little night life in the village so we would go to bed quite early. One night at about 22.00hrs. we heard music and singing from a club or a bar not far from the pension, since it appeared to come from close by we decided to try and find it. We walked round the village and came across a small local bar. When we entered we found it was used by local people who were singing and having a great time. The first evening we spent talking to an Englishman who was running a local business and used the bar frequently. It was quite a good evening but the local’s were not keen to mix. We enjoyed the atmosphere and since there was nowhere else to go at night it became a regular place to spend the evenings. After a couple of nights the locals began to talk to us, so the evenings got even better. By the time we left Canet we had got to know the locals quite well and were in some ways sad to leave. It was a great honeymoon but it was now time to return to the real world.