Market House meeting led to marriage

12:21pm Thursday 28th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A CHANCE meeting by Ledbury’s Market House led to a lifetime of romance for Dymock’s diamond wedding couple, Gerald and Violet Mowbray.

The year was 1945 and Mr Mowbray, who was just 21, had returned to England after one-and-a-half years in a German prisoner of war camp, Stalag 4B.

He had been a flight engineer on a Halifax bomber when the aircraft went down over Germany in December 1943.

Mrs Mowbray was getting off a bus in the market town when she spotted her future husband. She was just 17 at the time.

Mrs Mowbray said: “He was in RAF uniform and sitting on a motorbike by the Market House. He spoke to me first. He said, good morning, miss.”

The couple were engaged in November 1945 and married in St Mary’s Church, Dymock, on August 28, 1948.

In times of rationing and shortages, they spent their honeymoon in Birmingham, with an aunt.

Mr Mowbray’s background in engineering put him in good stead in civilian life.

He worked for Swifts garage on the Homend, then as a fireman with the railway, before working for many years as a repair engineer with the water board.

Mrs Mowbray worked for some years at the Little Marcle Road jam factory, Ledbury Preserves.

The couple have one daughter, Carolyn, and two grandchildren, Vicky and Michael.

Mr Mowbray’s interests include football, and he played with Miller Craddock at Ledbury Football Club for one season, before the future Villa star moved on.

The couple both enjoy dancing and gardening.

They plan to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary with a gathering for family and friends this weekend.