After Finals, Judy went down to Totnes in Devon with David and 2 other members of MethSoc. They had been offered jobs in the local Bacon Factory. They all stayed in David’s home. She took David down on the back of her scooter, and 2 days into the holiday, at Blackpool Sands, S Devon, by the sea, he kissed her. With some awkwardness. He assumed that since she did not protest he did not need to say anything. So didn’t. Judy was sacked within a week of starting in the Bacon Factory. Her job entailed making faggots. With the other girls she would take various bits of offal which was cut up and spiced, and wrap them in a network of string from the inside of the animal. Her hands were not made for this activity, so she was hopelessly incompetent. However, as far as David was concerned, it was Mission Accomplished. He probably kissed her again.
There is now a surprising blank in the record. It seems that some time in the next 12 months, they were engaged to be married. No one remembered how. It definitely wasn’t in a drunken stupor, but no-one could remember the point at which one of them said “Do you think that in the course of a few years you could learn to love me?”
Her first real job was as a Technical Abstractor at AEI who had a large factory at Trafford Park, Manchester. She thoroughly enjoyed the work. In the Information and Exchange section of the firm a group of 4 employees produced a weekly bulletin of technical articles and papers from a range of Engineering publications. Their job was to provide abstracts of articles which were marked by Mr Diamond, the head of the section. He was an austere Scottish Presbyterian. At her interview she was characteristically honest. “Do you know what the job entails?” “No”. Perhaps Mr Diamond recognised a common soul. Judy always read and wrote very slowly and carefully, but this job suited her completely. She paced herself so that she had just the right amount of time to complete her allocation in the week with meticulous care. She would read the first paragraph of the article, and the last paragraph, then compose in her own words an accurate description of its contents. On the final day, she and a colleague would proof-read all the articles for the next publication. One would read them out loud, the other would check the text. Judy enjoyed writing summaries of papers on Electric Trains, Nuclear Power station design, the potential use of solar energy, the design of lighthouses, design constraints on Diesel trucks, the potential use of Computers in engine design … It was all very interesting.
However, since she was paid at the end of the month, she had to survive for a month without any income. She solved this problem in characteristic fashion. The local butcher sold her a sheep’s head for 6d. The local supermarket was selling carrots for 1d a pound as a discounted come on in. She bought a 2 stone bag of carrots – for 2/-4d and she and David lived for a week for less than 3/-. Brains on toast one day, the tongue lasted 3 days, the cheeks 3 days and there was Sheep’s Head Soup left over. Do not misunderstand. These were happier days – their relationship was strictly chaste. You didn’t do that sort of thing until you were married.
Once she was paid, and David’s grant had come in, at the end of each day they would eat Tomato, Bacon, Egg and Chips in the University refectory.
In July 1964 Judy went with David, his mother, and Auntie Vi to Freiburg for a week holiday with the Coop. In Freiburg she bought herself an engagement ring. Perhaps that was when they got engaged, and she forgot to tell him. It could have happened.
David graduated in the summer, but found that a degree in Philosophy was not the money spinner you would have thought. They had to put off the wedding until the General Election was over, as David was fully occupied canvassing for the Labour Party in Macclesfield and Stockport. Finally, on 24th October 1964, she became Judy Butland at Chorlton cum Hardy Methodist Chapel.
The wedding was a characteristic Judy event. Judy hated all form of show. “Play acting!”. Some of the worst days of her life had been as a bridesmaid at odd family weddings. They were all of them lovely people, and they really did want her to have a lovely day, and she did love them all, but being part of a public exhibition was so embarrassing that the events troubled her long after. Therefore at Judith Whiteley’s wedding, when she became Judy Butland, the only participants were:
- The Minister
- Judith Whiteley (Principle Girl)
- Stanley David Butland (Principle Boy)
- Gordon Whiteley (Judith’s father)
- Margaret Whiteley (Judith’s mother)
- Catherine Mary Butland (Kitty), David’s mother
- Kathleen (Judy’s flat mate) doubling up as bridesmaid
- Deaf Geoff (David’s best man)
- Miss Whitehead (the land lady)
- The organist.
- The Good Lord
What about her brothers? and their wives? and Auntie Vi? and Aunt Edith? and Auntie Rose? and the cousins? and all the others?
None of them invited
Judy made her own wedding dress by hand.Her dad brought her to the Chapel in his mini. David went on the bus. We all sang well, though, including those most excellent hymns “Now Thank we all our God” and “Thou God of Truth and Love”. Judy’s parents adding tenor and Contralto. Thou God of truth and love contains the verse
,...And join with mutual care
To fight our passage through
And kindly help each other on …
There was going to be a lot of that in the future – for both of them
The Organist played “Oh for the wings of a dove”, which you will remember goes on “Far far away would I rove”. She enjoyed that.
They went round to the flat on Withington Rd for the Reception. They drank tea and did not dance. There were no speeches, but there was a lot of laughter. It was OK. For their honeymoon they went to Manchester Exchange railway station to see what trains were running. There was one to N Wales, so they bought tickets to Prestatyn. They travelled on a steam train. In Prestatyn they booked in to the Railway Hotel and stayed until their money ran out, 2 days later. This set the pattern for the next 54 years, 1 month and 24 days.
jbrip 