Bride's Heart melts in searing heat!
From our Australian Correspondent
January 2003
Well known folk dance fanatic Liz Morgan was married in temperatures
of 46 degrees (115 degrees
in old money!) on New Years Eve. People attending the wedding
in the small Australian town of
Finley, situated about three and a half hours driving time north of
Melbourne, said that the bride's
heart melted, but onlookers were not sure whether this was due to the
incredible heat or because
she saw her future husband Dan.
Daniel Cauchi, an Australian lad of Maltese extraction said he hoped it was the later!
Dan and Liz met in the delightful seaside resort of Southend on Sea in Essex.
Liz had moved there having completed
her teacher training in Cumbria, following a three year stay in Ipswich,
where she graduated with a degree in Early
Childhood Studies. Her first teaching job was in Bournemouth Park
School where she taught infants and then nursery
children. As seems usual with teachers from other schools in the area,
and it was on one of their weekly pub crawls that
they introduced her to Daniel.
Brought uo in the agricultural town of Finley, New South Wales (pop 2000),
Daniel made an memorable impression on
his teachers and left school to help run a leisure centre. He then
trained to be a teacher and decided to apply for a teacher
exchange with another Catholic school in England. After cunningly fighting
off competition from her friends who where
also young, female and single, Liz decided to bring Dan to her home village
of Charlton (pop 550) in sleepy south
Northanptonshire and show him off to her parents Diane and David.
In a noble effort to educate the young Australian
in the ways of the English, they took him on a punting trip on the Cherwell
in Oxford. This event proved to be very
interesting when Dan thought the traditional way of using a punt pole resulted
in too slow progress and opted for the
novel 'kayak' style. The resulting rapid evacuation of the banks
by innocent picnickers is still spoken of with awe in the
Common Rooms of Oxford!
Following a proposal on an impressive cliff top in Malta, they decided to
get married in Australia followed by a blessing
in the pretty church at Newbottle, near Charlton at Easter. Over 100
guests attended the wedding including the groom's
three sisters and two brothers. The bride wore an ivory dress with
a fishtail train and carried a bouquet of silk lilies.
The groom wore a dark suit and a turquoise shirt and ivory tie which picked
up the basic colour at the reception.
The Wedding was a civil ceremony conducted outside in the grounds of St.Joseph's
RC School followed by a reception
in the church hall. Readers who know Liz will remember that after attending
Charlton School and MCS, she went to
Northampton College and qualified as a Nursery Nurse. She was very
active in many aspects of Charlton life, being a
member of the church choir and Sunday School. She was in the Brownies
and later Dedddington Girl Guides as well
as Charlton Girls Brigade. Her main love was (and still is) folk dancing.
She danced with the Charlton Cherries and
later with the National Youth Folklore Team. She also danced with
the ladies morris side Aynho Apricots, Gyppeswick
(Ipswich), Belfagan Morris (Cumbria) and still dances with three sides in
Southend. For many years she played drums
and then flute in her Dad's barn dance band. Husband Dan has resisted
attempts by the sides to get him to dance,
although he does enjoy ceilidth dancing. He said he agreed with a
recent comment which said morris dancing was
"enjoyable to those people who took part in it, but slightly annoying to
those who don't"
Liz and Dan have bought a house in Westcliffe on Sea, (part of Southend)
and intend to set up home there for the time
being.