Memoirs of GD Fell

On the 20th March 1982 Sheila and I were married at Northstead church with Nick as best man, Diane as bridesmaid (or should it be Matron of Honour) and Chris giving Sheila away. In his speech Chris came out with the classic phrase, “It’s not very often that one gets the opportunity of giving their mother in law away.” Although we had our reception at the Southlands Hotel Sheila and I decided that we would spend the first night of our married life at the Red Lea Hotel. This was to pre-empt any interference with the bedroom which would probably have been the case had we stayed at the Southlands.

Our honeymoon was spent in the Canaries and on the flight back Sheila said that she would love to see the view from the cockpit of the plane so I asked the stewardess if it would be possible for her to do so. The stewardess said that she would ask the captain and later came back and told us that the captain had agreed to our request. It wouldn’t happen these days of course with the threat of terrorist attacks. We were escorted to the front of the plane whilst it was flying over the continent and the view was marvellous. If you have seen the film ‘The sound of Music’ you will no doubt remember the scene at the beginning of the film which was a panoramic view. Well, this was a view similar, but more breathtaking. I think it really put the icing on the cake of the honeymoon.

Back home in Scarborough we set about making a new life for ourselves. There was the garden to be seen to which also meant exploring the numerous nurseries in the area. As well as nurseries of course we were able to explore the area around Scarborough, we sought out all the highways and byways. If we saw a track or land that we hadn’t been down before we went down it to see where it led to. Sometimes of course it was a dead end but very often it led to some lovely countryside. On the social side we would call in at various pubs for a drink or something to eat. We also started dancing on Saturday nights at the Spa when I wasn’t working. It was there that we met Beryl and Brian Robertshaw and we became quite friendly with them, eventually going out with them for meals.