Courier Country’s VE wedding remembered

celebrations: Former Newport woman recalls a very special time

A wedding day is always special but for Peeky (Mary) Carver, who was married during the VE day celebrations, it was a particularly memorable day.

Born in her grandparents’ house in Newport, Peeky Carver moved to London with her family when she was a toddler, where she stayed until their house was bombed and the family had to move back to Newport.

Now 92, she lives in Cambridge where her house is called Kilrenny after the family home in Newport.

Her nickname came about when she was a small child: “I was number three of four children and we used to visit my aunt’s farm in Hampshire, and feed the chickens,” she explains.

“We used to say ‘peek, peek, peek’ to attract the hens’ attention, and somehow ‘Peeky’ became my pet name.

“Anyway the name stuck and even now I don’t answer to anything else – although my mother drew the line at me being called it at school!”

In 1941, when Peeky was 19, she went to work as a Red Cross nurse with the Voluntary Aid Department at Glenea- gles when the hotel was transformed into a hospital. “I was only there for a year and it was quite an education. I’d gone from a boarding school in London to suddenly being back in Scotland after our house was bombed, and working with injured soldiers. We weren’t let loose on badly hurt soldiers though – our duties were to take temperatures, empty bedpans and rub in ointments.

“By 1942 I had left – I was suffering from congested lungs and went home on doctor’s orders,” she says.

Also in 1942, Peeky’s eldest brother had married and it was at his wedding that Peeky met the bride’s brother, John. “We chatted but nothing really came of it because John was scooting round with the army and I was working at Gleneagles,” she recalls.

“He was posted to Auchterarder and came to visit me in Newport a couple of times. But then he took part in the first army landings in North Africa and was away for a couple of years.

“When he came back he asked if he could come to see me and we got engaged. John had always said that he didn’t want to get married in wartime but nonetheless we planned the wedding for May 10 1945. It was quite extraordinary that the war ended 48 hours before we got married.

“All the shops were closed for two days so there was a bit of a panic about the wedding flowers. In the end two girls from the florist in Dundee very kindly said they would open up the shop and make bouquets for me and my two bridesmaids.

“My brother Tony cycled to the ferry buildings in Newport, caught the ferry to Dundee, collected the flowers and then pedalled furiously back to the house with them.

“My mother and aunt did the flowers for the church, St Mary’s Episcopal Church in the village. You must remember that to all intents and purposes it was still wartime and there weren’t many frills,” says Peeky.

Newport itself was very quiet, she recalls. “All the shops were closed and I think half the village turned out to watch our wedding!” she smiles.

“Our reception was held in the Blyth Hall and afterwards, when John and I went to Edinburgh, there was a lot going on in the streets – it seemed very noisy after Newport.”

Peeky and John on their wedding day in Newport on May 10 1945 – just 48 hours after war had ended.

Peeky (Mary) Carver as she looks today.