The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Fay Berry 2013 © – Chapter 28 – 19570216 – My brother Maynard’s Wedding

My brother Maynard’s wedding was quite an event in our family’s life. He was the first to marry, although my brother Charles would marry pretty soon after. I would miss him and our home would feel empty without him, but most of all I would miss his help with all the problems of my life. It was like having my own personal “google” of today. Not only was he a good and kind brother to me, but  he was soo clever. I was learning dressmaking and dress design at that time, and whenever I would have a problem with any of my drafts, Maynard would come up and look over my shoulder at the pattern I had been working on for hours and point his finger and say, “here’s where you problem is, you just need to make the dart bigger, or spread the pieces wider,” or whatever it was that I had got wrong. Here was me, studying to design these dress patterns and without learning at all, he could instantly see by eye just what needed to be fixed. It was the same with my school work, If I couldn’t work something out, if I asked Maynard, he would instantly know exactly what the problems was and how to fix it, and his general knowledge was prodigious and I could always understand when he taught me something, whereas, if I asked my brother Charles for help, he would give me the A to Z of the subject and at the end of it I never had a clue what he was on about. My other brother, Graham could teach me how to weave a belt out of leather, or how to crack a whip, or how to do the latest dance. In later years we discovered we shared a love of poetry and the written word. We all loved books, and I had read just about every book in the local library by the time I was 12 years old. We all had torches to read under the blankets at night when we were supposed to be asleep.

My Brother Maynard’s and Roma Wilson’s wedding, 16th Feb, 1957

Roma Wilson, my brother’s wife and Beth Joseph and Fay O’Connor

Roma and her father, Bro Wilson, Fay O’Connor, Beth Joseph and Barbara Wickham.

My brother Maynard got married on the 16th February, 1957 in the Temple in Halifax Street, Adelaide. Beth Joseph, my brother Charles’ fiance and I were the two bridesmaids and the flower girl was Roma’s young niece, Barbara Wickham The groomsmen were my Brother Charles and David Russell. Our bridesmaid dresses were V-necked with 3/4 length sleeves and made of a sheer white flowered material over a white petticoat. Beth and I wore hats that in my opinion resembled flying saucers and I never did quite adjust to those hats. The wedding was in the standard Christadelphian wedding format. The wedding reception was a hilarious affair with my two brothers outdoing each other with their “punning” which was very fashionable at the time. Uncle Perce Mansfield gave one of the talks at the wedding and dug up numerous family skeletons which he took great delight in “dancing” for his captive audience. If he didn’t have the truth of a matter, he simply made it up. The guests found it all hilarious and since the food was good,and it was, the wedding was pronounced a success.

Roma and her parents, Bro & Sis Wilson

Roma and my parents, Jean and Maynard O’Connor

Maynard and Roma O’Connor and my second brother, Charles O’Connor, and David Russell

All of us

For me the wedding preparations didn’t start off so well. In 1956, hair curlers were a recent “invention” but only the tiny ones had been made. The big ones were yet to come. Because it was my brother’s wedding and I wanted to look my best I had decided I would have my hair “set” at the hairdressers instead of doing it myself.

I had made my appointment for pretty early on Saturday morning and when I got there, the hairdresser talked me into using these “new fangled” curlers. She rolled my hair up in the rollers and then put my head under the dryer.

When my hair was dry and the hair dresser took out the curlers and began brushing out the curls, there was a problem. My hair is very strong hair and whatever shape it is set in that is how it stays. For example, When I rode my bicycle in a stiff wind, when I got to my destination, my hair would be fixed in the direction of the wind. Now, on this important day, my brother’s wedding, there was no way that the hair dresser could brush out my hair. She tried and tried and the end result was an “Afro” that stood out all around my head.

I rushed home in a frenzy with tears pouring down my face. I went into the bathroom and tried everything I could to smooth out the frizz and make some sort of reasonable hair style. I had no luck at all. In the end there was only one thing for it. I stuck my head under the tap and gave my hair a good soaking.Goodbye two hours of precious time and my dreams of a sophisticated hair style. Even though I had wet and dried my hair it still combed out “spikily,” but it wasn’t too bad and I managed to calm down and approach my bridesmaid’s “job” in a reasonably calm manner.

I wore my “bridesmaid hat” at the Southport Youth Conference and everyone made fun of it calling it “Fay’s Flying Saucer.” Grrr! That hat lasted only one session at the Conference.