mr & mrs frank Tolley

Few couples can have had such an uncertain start to their married life as Mr and Mrs Frank Tolley of Hookstone Chase, Harrogate.

Just a few minutes after the Prime Minister had declared war with Germany, the Rev Kiddell of Christ Church, was declaring them man and wife.

For one member of the wedding party the news of the impending conflict came as unwelcome surprise.

That morning the couple had been mysteriously been kept waiting at the altar by the Rev Kiddell.

When he eventually arrived, he remarked it was a "good omen" that people were still carrying on as normal despite the war.

Mrs Ethel Tolley remembers bursting into tears: "I hadn't heard the broadcast and my first thought was that I'd just gained a husband and now he would have to go away,"she said.

A small reception was held afterwards with a few close friends, before the couple, gasmasks in hand, took off for their honeymoon — an overnight stay in Ilkley.

Despite Mrs Tolley's fears, she was not separated from -her new husband right away. That came the following summer when he was called up to join the West Yorkshire Regiment. She was not to see him again for five years.

The couple were one of the first to take advantage of the special licence allowing weddings to take place on Sundays — introduced as a result of the burgeoning demand caused by the possibility of war.