Will and Belin's Golden Wedding July 2019

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Belin and her father Pug Wallis entering Twyford Church 1969
Will and Belin were married in August 1969, the earliest of our friends, and held their Golden Wedding Party at their house on 28th July 2019. A fine lunch was served in a tent under the trees in their garden to 62 guests who were all local friends - no family. Will and Belin both spoke, Belin telling tbe story of how Herry had to help her do up the 50 buttons on her wedding dress, as the result of which the seating instructions didn't reach the church in time to prevent her aging relatives from being seated in the wrong pews.... Herry spoke briefly for them and his speech appears below.




Belin, Katherine Sellon, Will 

I thought to just say just a few words on this marvellous occasion of their golden wedding, the first of our generation and, sad to say, almost the only one, although the sainted Beloe’s got there first. I have been around since the beginning of the story because I’ve known Will from the age of five when we sat together for protection as the only boys at Miss Ethridge’s in the stables at Firhill in Droxford. It’s true we could run faster than the girls, but we also learned early on that that wasn’t quite the point!  Belin, I’ve known since she was about eight and was already filling her second address book. We saw a great deal of each other in our teenage years when there seemed to be a party at someone’s house almost every night, and as the late much lamented Annie Ommanney put it, ‘we all rushed about together in a heap’ sometimes in the back of one of our farm vans filled with bales of straw.

Anyway, their story together begins with one of these parties that I gave at Stocks in a garage that I’d fitted out with balloons and flags and music (particularly Nina Simone and the Beach Boys). It was notable for there being two lots of love birds there that night. One was dear Nick Duke and Nicky Boyle and I’ll just say that it sadly wasn’t a conventional love match at all. Nicky was deeply in love with Nick while Nick on the other hand, despite being chased by half the girls in Hampshire, was even then more interested in the whisky bottle. By contrast, Belin and Will had just decided that they fancied each other and set about so energetically that I didn’t know whether to call the RSPCA or get a fire hose.  

Now in those days we - or was it just me? - were very slow off the mark and you’d be lucky to get a kiss from a girl after a year's chaste Scottish reels. Having said that, there were some chaps of the same vintage who never took that rather restricted view of life. If you were very unlucky as a pretty girl you’d smile uncertainly in the direction of Charlie Skipwith and be whipped down to that dungeon under the garden of his parents' lovely house at Droxford and come to a very sticky end. It was worse than Game of Thrones down there!

Will and Belin have been notable for many things, apart from the longevity of their marriage. Probably most noteworthy is the extraordinary number of good friends they have made and have kept up with through the years. And when I say ‘kept up with’, I mean - seen as frequently as they can - and when their friends get into trouble or their health fails, give them tremendous love and support. Sadly, of course, they have lost many very good friends along the way and were at a funeral only yesterday. If spelled out, the losses would be a long list, beginning with Nicky Boyle.

 Together they’ve raised two of the most glamorous and interesting girls in London, and a highly successful son, and have four lovely and entertaining grandchildren. They’ve also created this beautiful garden and a house that’s always full of family and friends. 

 There is really no better life than one spent making others happy - and this they have done in spades.

 Let us all now drink to their long and happy marriage and wish them many more happy years together. 

 For more photos of the party, click here

I can't resist adding this old photo from about 1968, Belin and Will are acting 'Bonnie and Clyde' on the drive at Stocks - Belin in the famous 'Fifi'. Behind them are Piers, Cilla with Rosie Bryans's children, Penny Hitchcock (my girlfriend at the time), Nick Duke and a girl we can't remember.



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