IT WAS a foggy day and bitterly cold when they married 47 years ago at St Cross Church. (From Warrington Guardian)

IT WAS a foggy day and bitterly cold when they married 47 years ago at St Cross Church.

But hopefully on Sunday the weather will be better when Eric and Irene Hickson return to reaffirm their wedding vows.

And at least this time they will not have to pose for pictures outside in the cold.

"After the wedding it took a long time to have all the photographs taken and the ladies were glad to get into the warmth," said Eric, of Manor Park North.

On Sunday after the normal church service conducted by the Rev Julian Heaton, he and his wife will stand up in the pews and reaffirm their vows.

"The vicar approached us and asked us whether we would like to do it and we said yes," said Eric yesterday (Tuesday).

"It seemed appropriate to make a new start for the millennium and we hope others will join us."

The simple ceremony will allow couples to demonstrate their commitment to each other.

"We hope that couples, whether they usually attend church or not, will takes this opportunity to come and join us," said Mr Heaton.

The wording of the wedding vows will certainly ring bells for the Hicksons who were married in St Cross by the Rev Richard Leigh in January 1953.

Then a full choir led the exuberant hymn singing.

"It is great to get your tongue round a good hymn and let yourself go," said Eric, who is still a regular member of the St Cross congregation.

The newlyweds' honeymoon in a converted mill in Tatton Street might not have been everyone's idea of wedded bliss.

But Eric, then a train driver, had already pushed the boat out by haggling for an extra week off work.

"We had a belated honeymoon in Blackpool in September instead," he said.

For more information about the service call St Cross on (01565) 632389.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.