Couple with combined age of 171 become Britain’s oldest newlyweds
Joan Grant and Ted Wright tie the knot in a civil ceremony in Swindon
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Your support makes all the difference.A couple with a combined age of 171 have become Britain’s oldest newlyweds.
Joan Grant, 81, wed Ted Wright, 90 at Swindon Register Office, after they met while working at WHSmith.
They tied the knot in a civil ceremony in front of 20 guests and walked down the aisle to Frank Sinatra’s "Second Time Around".
The couple have planned a week-long “funnymoon” in a hotel with 43 friends from their retirement group of ex-WHSmith workers.
Ms Grant said: “We will have our first dance to ‘Second Time Around’ by Frank Sinatra – the same song we walked down the aisle to.
“We were engaged for more or less ten years but in September we were visiting Ted’s niece, and he said ‘Joan and I are going to get married.’ It was a lovely surprise for me.”
Ms Grant wore a dark purple lace dress, a black jacket and a white fascinator with feathers, while Mr Wright wore a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a tie which was colour co-ordinated with his wife’s outfit.
The couple had both been widowed and neither had dared to hope of finding love again – until they met 15 years ago on holiday near Blackpool.
Great-grandfather-of-two Mr Wright said: “Neither of us ever thought we would be married again. My wife died 17 years ago, and Joan’s husband died, aged 63. We both had church weddings the first time but thought we’d make this one a quiet one.
“We really love each other and we are so happy.”
The couple are both Londoners who moved to Swindon for their jobs with WHSmith.
They met through a retirement group for former workers of the stationary company and will spend a week in a hotel with their colleagues celebrating their marriage, as well as having a party with 100 guests.
“I went on holiday with them near Blackpool, and my first impression was she was lovely,” Ted said. "Joan says I married her to make an honest woman of her. We’ve lived together in a bungalow since 2004. She has found her Mr Wright.”
Born in 1927, Mr Wright had seven siblings, and his last surviving sister, Jessie, aged 79, travelled from Kent to watch her brother walk down the aisle for the second time.
They asked guests not to give them wedding presents, but for donations to be made towards a radiotherapy unit at the local hospital.
SWNS
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