Tuesday 22 January 2013

Wedding Wednesday - A Blitz Bride

Wedding of Florence Palethorpe and Sam Redpath


My grandmother, Florence Palethorpe, married my grandfather, Samuel Redpath, at St Stephen's Church, Sneinton in Nottingham on June 14th 1941.  The Blitz - which killed over 40,000 British civilians - was ongoing and, with still another 6 months to go before the USA would join the war effort, it was a stark time at which they chose to celebrate their wedding.

And yet, apart from my grandmother's restrained, ration book dress, the war isn't obvious. None of the men wore uniform and you wouldn't know from the picture that five weeks previously 100 German bombers had flown over Nottingham and wiped out buildings that had stood only a few hundred metres from St Stephen's and the wedding party.

Like the rest of the country, they just kept going and hope triumphed.

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2 comments:

  1. You're right you would have no idea. They all look so happy and I love the clothing and the wedding bouquet. Lovely picture and what a treasure for your family.

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    1. Have always loved this photo but never thought about what was going on at the time - they lived right at the centre of Nottingham so would have been surrounded by the bombing. The thought of 100 planes dropping bombs all around you unimaginable.

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