Surely one of
the stories of War and Peace 2002 has to be the big wedding!. Nick
Crowhurst and Carena Loughlin met as friends going to the War and Peace
show.
There will be
blue birds over the white oasts of Beltring on Saturday 2oth July when
lovehearts Nick Crowhurst and Carena Loughlin exchange vows in period
costume. As Nick, dressed in the chief petty officer's uniform his
father wore in
the Fleet Air Arm turns to see Carena walk up the isle in a
reproduction Forties dress, both will be able to reflect on a unique
courtship. And it's a courtship that has much to thank the War and
Peace Show for. As Nick explains: "I had been going to the show for six
or seven years and, to begin with, Carena and I just went as friends."
That's what he
says, but after he took Carena to her first show in 1999 she was keen
enough to buy a Dodge Weapons Carrier with him. "We spent the winter of
1999 restoring it and arguing over what shade of green it should be,"
remembers Carena. "We had it ready for the 2000 rallying season and
kicked off with a wet weekend in Canterbury - and even that didn't put
us off!"
Things were
bowling along fairly uneventfully, "then we went back to Beltring two
years ago, and in the middle of a row I said I loved her, and she said
she loved me, and the rest is history," says Nick. "And that's why War
and Peace is important to us. It's not that we want to get married at a
military show, but at War and Peace where all our friends are."
He admits,
though, that holding the actual wedding at the show was not their idea.
They were agreed the wedding would be Forties-style, but it was his
children and Rex Cadman's partner Debbie who twisted their arms: "They
said we could not simply go to a register office and that we should get
married here as it has a wedding licence."
Nick will be
wearing a copy of the CPO's uniform his father wore after joining the
Fleet Air Arm in 1942. He served in many theatres of war as a fitter,
responsible for sifting through wreckage to determine the cause of
crashes. Carena will be wearing a Forties-style dress based on an
original. "She would have worn the original, but it was obviously made
for a stick insect," said Nick. "Its original owner must have been
painted by Lowry!"
The couple lives
at Paddock Wood, and both now help out at the show. On their big day
they will leave their home in Paddock Wood in a convoy of historic
vehicles for the hop farm. Their matron of honour, Rita Johnson, will
be in the uniform of the
Women's Land Army while senior bridesmaids Hayley Crowhurst, Emma
Johnson and Nicola Crowhurst will be in period dress, and the three
younger Charlotte Rose, Sarah Shea and Stephanie Tarry-Cadman will be
in more traditional bridesmaids' dresses.
The pageboys,
David and James Rose, will be in sailor suits while Nick's son Liam
Crowhurst, and his stepson Dean Lewis, who will be giving his mother
away, will be wearing US navy uniform. Ironically, Service demands will
keep one important member of the family from the wedding. "My oldest
son Richard is serving with the Army in Cyprus and will not be able to
make it" says Carena.
In true war-time
fashion their friends will go back to work at the show after the
ceremony. There will be a private wedding party for all their friends
and family in the evening, says Nick, "And then we will be spending our
wedding night - where else - in an Andersen shelter, just like other
couples did in the war."
Then it's back
to work at the show on the Sunday. What about a honeymoon you ask? That
will be at the big Liberation Day celebrations at Bethune in northern
France in September. "This time, though," says Carena, " we won't be
camping. We're treating ourselves to a hotel - we don't trust some of
the people on that trip!"
War
and Peace Show 2002