The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
CouplEs rEnEw CElEBrAtE lovE At
St Paul’s Church
Couples were able to celebrate their marriage and renew their vows at a romantic church service in Peterborough. Dozensofpeopleturnedupto show their love to their partner at the service at St Paul’s Church in New England on Sunday.
The annual event takes place around Valentine’s Day, and the church was filled with flowers and pink bows to mark the occasion.
The service was led by Rev Ron Watkinson, and he encouraged couples to renew weddingvows, whichinmany cases were made years ago.
One of the couples taking part was Sonya and Alan Thornton, who have been married for seven years - and theeventwasspecialforthem as Sonya’s wedding dress was on display in the church. Sue and Ron Bush were also at the service after 35 years of marriage, while Peter and Fran King marked 55 years since they tied the knot.
Val Watkinson - wife of Rev Watkinson - said it was always a special occasion at the church.
She said: “Since 2009 we have held a Celebrate Marriage Service in St Paul’s in February around Valentine’s Day and also to coincide with NationalMarriageWeek aswe want to give thanks for marriage and the positives that a stable, loving, committed relationship in marriage brings to acoupleandtotheirfamily. Statistics say that it is still the coupleswhomarry, especially those who have a faith in God, who stay together the longest and have the most stable families.
“The Christian church wants to celebrate that, and that is whyatStPaul’s wehave this annualservice whencouples canrenewtheirmarriage vows to one another.”
This year, one of the highlights was the wedding dress display, that included Sonya’s special garment.
There were eight dresses on display, and four had been worn at weddings at the church, with photos of the happy couples on their special day.
Val added: “We had 12 couples come to the service plus other guests, andsoaround35 people enjoyed tea and cake afterwards. One couple had travelled down from York by train so that they could come as they hadbeenmarriedinSt Paul’s 35 years ago.
“Another couple were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary on February 12 and so we put out a Happy Anniversary banner with the numbers 35 alongside.
“One couple are celebrating their 60th anniversary in December; we had two couples (both from St Paul’s) who have been married 57 years andoneofthosehadherdress displayed alongside the wedding dress of her youngest daughter.
“The oldest wedding dress was owned by Pam Kreling who married Peter in 1959 and Pam is now 82 and still worshipping at St Paul’s, and she and Peter live locally.”