Sisters enjoy golden wedding on the double
TWO Wexford sisters who were married in a double wedding ceremony 50 years ago, celebrated their golden anniversaries with separate parties for families and friends.
Bernie and Breda Turner, sisters of the musician Pierce Turner married David Lloyd and Joe Doyle at a big wedding in Rowe Street Church on July 17, 1967, on a very special day for their families.
Bernie and David of Davitt Road celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in the Riverbank House Hotel, with guests travelling from the UK and Donegal, and a week later, Breda and Joe of Barrack Street marked the golden milestone with a celebration in the Talbot Hotel.
Bernie and Londoner David, a former member of Wexford Fire Brigade, were living in the UK at the time and after spending their honeymoon in Ireland, they returned to London and continued to reside there for another three years before coming back to Wexford full time.
David retired in 2002 after a busy 40-year career with Wexford Fire Service. Bernie, a co-founder of Music for Wexford owned a children’s clothing shop on the quay and later in Rowe Street having previously worked in the former Healy Collins department store in Wexford.
The couple met when Bernie was a ‘clippy’ or conductor with London Bus. David who was a fire fighter in London was on his way to meet another young woman but after he got talking to Bernie, he didn’t go on the date!.
Younger sister Breda also worked in Healy Collins before moving to the former Corry’s shop on the Main Street. She married Enniscorthy native Joe Doyle, an electrician who served his time in Gus Byrne’s in Weafer Street before joining the ESB and eventually working in St. Senan’s Hospital for many years up to his retirement.
Joe and Breda met in the old Castle Ballroom in Enniscorthy and Joe wasn’t letting her get away because he proposed after a month!. They spent their honeymoon in Basel, Switzerland where Joe’s sister, the late Bridget Doyle Bloch lived.
The bridesmaids at the double wedding were the brides’ sister-in-law, the late Patti Turner and their sister Dolores (Beaver) while the flower girls were nieces Eithne Turner and Jennifer Beaver.
Joe and Breda were joined by a large gathering of well-wishers at a party in the Talbot which was the original venue for the wedding breakfast all those years ago.
David and Bernie were on the guest list, of course, and the foursome who were all in their early twenties when they tied the knot, posed for a photograph together just as they did back in 1967.