Giant Nettle Rash — urticaria

THE Royal wedding approaches and it has reminded me of my own wedding day. Of course there were incidents, which caused a little inconvenience but others of a more distressing nature.
I had a really bad cold sore appear on the Friday, which had to be disguised with make-up. No special cream to whisk it away in those days. But, the day before our special day my hubby-to-be was ill in bed. I don’t recall how the message came through, likely his landlady’s daughter called at our house to let me know. In those days only posh or professional people had telephones installed. Of course there were no mobile phones, it was many years before they appeared on the scene.
When I got home from work I rushed to the house where he was living and the landlady showed me up to the attic bedroom. No central heating of course but no doubt he had a hot water bottle. It was a dim room with dark furniture. My poor eve-of-wedding Galahad looked a sorry sight but doing his best to keep cheerful.
Giant Nettle Rash or Urticaria may be merely troublesome or most distressing. I have had a little of the former but my hubby has had large doses of the latter. This was one of those occasions. One eye was almost closed with a raised swelling and other weals were distorting his film star looks. He had a rather knobby appearance. He informed me that they were all over his body. The doc had given him antihistamine tablets and he said that, in spite of the high fever he was presently suffering from, he would be okay for the wedding.
Actually, he was not only well enough to be at our midday wedding, but he had been on the bus to the tailors in Nottingham to get his new suit and also to a store to get the present his parents were buying us. Yes, he was there waiting at the top of the aisle for his bride to be. Urticaria was still present but no one knew about it.
What had I been doing that morning? I was up at the reception room on the High Street, putting place names on the table and other little jobs. My sister turned up and asked what I thought I was doing, “Your hair’s still in curlers, the flowers have come and you’re getting married in an hour’s time! Get off home and get ready!”
My brother led me up the aisle, followed by my bridesmaids (my sister and a friend) and my dad was waiting at the front to give me away, My poor hassled mum was doing her best to relax and smile but the bride and groom were fine. Everyone sang well and the churchwarden declared our wedding to be the best they had that morning.
On this photograph who would have thought we had our little problems? Joy wipes away anxieties!

Buxton Pavilion Gardens 1953 and Today.

We married at St John's, Beeston and spent a short honeymoon at the Alyson Hotel, Buxton, Derbyshire. That was in 1953. In those days there were many weddings just before the end of the tax year as it gave the husband a good rebate due to his new married status. It was a dull day followed by a sunny Sunday. The hotel was close to the Pavilion Gardens and we spent a little time there walking the footpaths. We did not have a car in those days. We often go to Buxton as we visit relatives and take holidays in Derbyshire. The gardens have now been restored to their former Victorian glory. Not only that but a great deal goes on there — antique and book fairs, Veteran car, and motor bike displays and many other things. The Opera House still continues with a variety of shows and plays, the swimming baths still operate as do the cafes and restaurant. But it is the gardens that fascinate us — how I wish they had such equipment for children when our kids were young! Incredible! And of course, the little train continues to delight its passengers as it winds its way around the park. I'm pretty sure the little waterfall is still the same one as on our honeymoon photographs. The little hotel we stayed at has changed hands a few times. It was rather amusing to find we were the only young people staying there. It seemed more like a retirement home for genteel ladies. In fact, when we were out walking, we passed close to an elderly pair of ladies and we heard one say heard one say to the other (elderly people do tend to speak with raised voices) “Look there's our young couple from the hotel.” I really liked the 'our' reference. Some years later it became a retirement home, but now I think it is a hotel again. Buxton may have super-markets and an indoor shopping mall, but it is still essentially the same as when we were on our honey-moon. The gardens, with the expensive Victorian uplift, are far better though. Sad about the bowling green loss, but with so much fun for the children, plus the renovated lake, the building and new bandstand far outweighs the loss. I assume it must have lost favour or surely it would have been kept. We always find it a great place to visit and often combine it with a walk along the Goyt Valley, which is just above Buxton. The poor quality of the black and white photographs is because they are enlarged and photographed copies of small snaps taken with a box camera 58 years ago.

Weddings — Then and Now (1953, 1982, 2010)

Weddings — Then and Now (1953, 1982, 2010)






57 years ago, in 1953, a celebration of marriage took place in Beeston, Nottingham. It was a simple affair — it had to be as these were lean years not long after the war when rationing was still in place. The bride wore a dress designed and made by herself.
Having bought the fabric (primrose satin and white lace) through the firm where she worked, the total cost of the dress, including twenty pearl buttons (one for each year of her age) and two lace butterflies to decorate the neck of the dress, plus stiffening for the skirt, cost a total of £2.10s (£2.50). The bride also made little Dutch style hat made of lace and artificial lilac flowers. The veil was bought for about 5s. I had two bridesmaids in yellow (material cost £2 for both) with anemone posies.
The bouquet was a mixture of white flowers available at the time — Spring Day, the 21st of March, 1953
Two ladies helped her mother serve up home prepared food in a room hired for the purpose. A lovely wedding cake, made by Burtons of Nottingham, plus a tray of iced fancies were luxury items!
A weekend in Buxton, Derbyshire, and Mr and Mrs Hobson were ready to face their new life together as man and wife (three years in a bedsit at her mother’s house until a deposit was saved for a home of their own).
Yes, I was that bride in a DIY dress. (Perhaps I should mention that my dad had become seriously disabled and money in our house was in short supply.)
1982, I made the wedding dress for my son Stephen’s wife — our lovely Linda. A great deal of hand stitching — embroidery and pearl beads — went into that dress. Plus dresses for the bridesmaids and my mother. That was quite a wedding celebration — afternoon and evening — with lots of guests.
Fifty-seven years after my own wedding, my handsome, grandson Matthew, married his lovely Lisa. Fantastic dress and all the trimmings expected these days. A fortnight honeymoon abroad and a home of their own to return to. Everything wonderful, from the wedding in Church followed by the wedding breakfast, to the dancing in the evening. (See my Wrinkly Writers site).
Three Mr and Mrs Hobsons. Each enjoying their very own special day. On a personal level, have things really changed?