Welcome to our wedding!

I hope you're all enjoying yourselves on this very special day.

It’s great to see so many friends and family and I can honestly say it would not have been the same without you – just a lot cheaper! And of course fewer gifts!

We should, first, join in thanking our fantastic hosts; John and Ann, for creating this most fabulous setting.  There are royal families and “A” list celebrities who would be envious of this venue.  I - above all - know of the hours, days, weeks and months of planning that have gone into creating this very special day.  Both John and Ann devote much of their free time to making this garden the subject of envy for many professional gardeners and I was very impressed with the lack of hesitation on their part to vandalise their joint, life-long project, in order to accommodate us all today!

Please except our sincere thanks. 

On a personal note I would like to say how John, Anne and the extended Leask, Vince and Gorman families very quickly made me feel at home and part of the clan. 

I am not saying that quid pro quo is a factor but John now gets extended bragging rights over his Irish connection not to mention the relief of off-loading, sorry giving away, the last of his children in marriage. Being a trusting person; I see nothing suspicious about his zeal.

The other reason we are able to enjoy this wonderful day is due, of course, to my mother Jean, who is here today with my “second mother” and life-long friend;  Joyce.   Thank you both for always being there for me.  I would like to thank my mother especially for fuelling my James Bond fantasies by telling my at an early age that she was once one of his girlfriends. This has kept the psychiatric profession in good stead for many years.

It would be churlish of me to neglect the efforts that the rest of my Irish family and friends have made to join us here today in this celebration: Thanks to my sister Orla, her husband, Brian and my nephew Dion, my son Stephen and my Granddaughter, Alycia, my life-long friend Conor, who is presiding as Best Man, his wife Liz and my godson Richard; all whom have travelled from Ireland to be here today.

Now I would like to thank the bridesmaids, pageboys and ushers for all their hard work. With some small, very small, tokens of our appreciation for their efforts in making this day so special.

So if you could all make your way up to the side you can get some free stuff.

I first met Frances in the local pub.  It makes me wonder where people will meet in the future once new labour have confined us to our homes for fear of us having a drink and a laugh!

Over a couple of years I became more and more enamoured with her; to the point of engineering “chance meetings” in the street.  In past times this was part of romance; now apparently it is referred to as “stalking”.

Tradition dictates that I should, now, tell you a funny anecdote about my bride: but I am going to break with that tradition and simply say that I now am in the enviable position of having the pleasure of waking up every day with the happiest most positive person on the planet!  And a smile that could change the world!

And look at her today – BEAUTIFUL!  BEAUTIFUL!  BEAUTIFUL! 

Almost there!  I am sure that Frances and you all will join me in toasting the Lovely Bridesmaids and the handsome ushers!

On a more solemn note, I would now like to hand over to my Best Man; Conor.  He knows far too much about me and is far too open to bribery and corruption.  Knowing that, I have paid him off, to go easy on me with his speech.  But before you have the pleasure of Conor’s dulcid tones, Fra and I would like to present him with a small gift to thank him for his efforts today.  He of course will argue that is too little and too late!

Conor!

 

Good afternoon every one and welcome.

 

In particular good afternoon to Mr. & Mrs. Ryan..

 

Also a very special welcome to our Irish guests not only for being here but also because of their vote last week ; long  live the Irish question,  Palmerston would have felt at home .  

 

Many thanks to Phil Collins for leading us through such a beautiful service and to Ann for organising cross ocean bridesmaids and much of the rest of the day . Mind you she was meant to be following my instructions to the letter but that is difficult when you have lost your glasses.

 

Turning to the most important lady of the day ; Frances . Speaking as her father means that much of what went on in her past will not be disclosed due to my ignorance; lucky Frances because I am told a lot did go on!

 

 Born in Warwickshire Frances was a very contented baby however at a young aged, just two, she insisted on going to school .This was the beginning of an interesting relationship between Frances and schools.  She had already discovered that school was a good place for a party.

 

There is not much that I remember about Frances in Warwickshire save that whilst there Frances took her first flight with us. After take-off we lost Frances. The steward looked everywhere and we went up front to see the captain. Frances was on his lap asking him ‘Are we nearly there?’ Frances had learnt at a very early age to turn left whilst boarding, although she probably went further forward than most.

 

We moved back to Hampshire and St. Swithuns School became exposed to France’s charm and sporting prowess . My sister had been head girl at St. Swithuns with a tremendous headmistress, Miss Evans . The headmistress when Frances was there was different! I cannot say more, she now lives at the bottom of our garden and I am on a loud speaker. Frances therefore went onto the Atherley in Southampton. I had been there before and during the war and it was a great school then and also when Frances was there  

 

To get to school at St. Swithuns or the Atherley involved car trips with Ann. These trips were dreaded by both Frances and Phillipa as Ann drove whilst testing the girls on their homework .if they got an answer wrong the driver turned round and tore them off a strip; luckily they never went off the strip on which they were driving.

 

Frances was on the lacrosse and net ball teams and enjoyed classes; this enjoyment was not necessarily reciprocated by the mistresses.

 

To reach the Atherley involved a train trip from Winchester to Southampton. At the time I was commuting by train to London and it was at this time that I first met a phenomenon that continues to this day ; the railway staff all knew me as Frances’ father .  

 

We were living in Avington in a house built into a hillside with the children’s bedrooms on a lower ground level with access to the garden. When we thought that they were safely tucked up in bed we have since heard that they and friends were roaming the surrounding countryside. One night a knock on the front door and there was a policeman with four children in tow.

 

He said that he had found them in Avington Park and asked them what they would have done if they had been attacked .No problem said one of their friends   and he pulled a carving knife from under his shirt.

 

Also at Avington we were relaxing upstairs after a dinner party the night before .The children were downstairs. Suddenly Timothy came upstairs. Daddy I think that we have a bit of a problem I go down. Bedroom ablaze; they had been playing dinner parties with candles. Frances took the practical approach; don’t worry Daddy we got the dolls out!

 

Another adventure in Avington ;   Frances , aged 14 , driving Ann’s Renault R4 , not the easiest of cars to drive ,jerking the clutch . Police car stops as it went by. “Can we help you madam?.“No, no need we are just taking the car to Mould & Thompson”, the local garage, with clutch problems!

 

 Next was Peter Symonds College  again very successful on the sporting field , winner of the Hampshire Schools tennis competition , and also on the stage .Extra curricula activities included clearing Woolworth’s of customers with the use of stink bombs and posing as a mannequin in the windows of Debenhams . Then, Miss Sprule’s secretarial college. At last a point to education; very successful passes.

 

Frances working life was diverse but successful. She obviously started with secretarial but she ranged through being a part owner of a restaurant in Vieques, off Puerto Rico , to helping to manage Joe’s Brasserie in Wandsworth Bridge Road . She even worked in my company for a bit .

 

She had many friends in the USA and travelled there a lot . One day I was on a Virgin flight to New York and there was Frances . What are you doing here? We communicated well as a family and kept a close watch on our children! I am going to see some friends she said. But you have no money. Don’t worry Daddy they will let me in .Well; you are not coming in with me. I go through, Frances appears. Broad grin. What did you do? They thought that my cheque guarantee card was a credit card. A few weeks later she was going over again. I told her not to be stupid they will think that you are smuggling drugs or are on the game . Sure enough she was asked into the little room . She complained to the officer that she could not hear his questions because her ears were blocked from the landing . Very helpful officer telling her how to clear her ears ;ears cleared  no questions asked , Frances enters the USA .

 

Frances last job was as part owner of a corner shop on the outskirts of Romsey. This was very hard work but very successful . At this time she had her aneurism . This meant a stay of 7 months in Southampton General . An amazing experience . Frances had a great surgeon called Mr. Ianotti , an Italian who smoked sixty a day . Frances teased him that the reason that he had to put holes in her head was to stub out his cigarettes . Poor chap died of a brain tumour caused by inhaling the smoke .

 

The hospital had a tremendous approach. Frances , then nearly totally paralysed , was allowed out to parties and outside to have a quick smoke . For some weeks tubes did everything however one day I was in the ward and Frances said that she could kill a duck . I walked off and said do not do anything stupid . I returned and found out that all the tubes had been pulled out .I believe that that night she had her duck .

 

Frances had known some of the staff before she went in . This created such an atmosphere that the staff were told that although Frances was there it was still a hospital and not an ongoing party .

One day we received a call to see the consultant . From past scholastic experience I said to Ann that I expected that we were going to be told that Frances is a disrupting influence on my ward  Not a bit of it we were told what a positive approach Frances was taking to her predicament . That has been her approach ever since.

 

Eventually Frances came out I missed the hospital bacon butties, the best that I have ever had. Frances and Ann flew of to the Jebel Ali in Dubai. What else do you do when you have spent 7 months in hospital and are in a wheel chair? Apparently A great time was had by all.

 

They return and we rent a canal boat on the Rhone and Saone with Emma Snagge who is here today.

 

Frances then gets asked to a dance in Newport Rhode Island; very practical in a wheel chair flies off and finds that it was the neurosurgeons of America annual bash . When they found out that Frances had spent 7 months in hospital at no cost to herself they wanted her to address the assembled throng, she declined. Two years later racing against the New York Yacht Club in the British Virgin Islands an American crew member ,  being a neuro-surgeon , said the usual ,I recognise your name , you must be Frances ‘ father .

 

Since those early days after hospital Frances has lived in Alresford where she has made many friends; one of whom was Mark. A year ago they became engaged. They move fast , they at least decided to get married in this century .

 

Like Frances’ family, Mark is Irish and also from the South. Mark works for Microsoft and is very involved in long term planning .He started this at an early age , the gynaecologist responsible at his birth in the Rotunda  was Frances’ cousin , Nigel Kinnear  .Mark  therefore got to know our family at a very young age . They have set up house in Alresford and have made a beautiful home and garden  where they serve delicious food and have found tremendous happiness and through that happiness have created happiness for many others .

 

As my grand father was an Inniskillen and was sent back from the trenches in 1916 for the 1916 uprising and, I suspect, that Marks’ grandfather may have been on the other side I am firstly glad that they must have been both poor shots but secondly I find great pleasure that this wedding can take place with no thought of politics or the religious divide. We were a Dublin family and Mark’s is a Dublin family and Frances has come home in every sense of the word. May I therefore finish by welcoming all the new Irish friends and relations and let us toast the future health and happiness of Mark and Frances.  MARK AND FRANCES.

 

We just picked up a report of a potential bug in Groovce 2007 Forms.  This issue only affects users who have their Windows installation set to any other locale than US.

 

When your system locale is set to a non-US setting, and you load a custom Groove form that uses the app.NavigateToForm() call, you may receive a type mismatch error.

Action

Your system locale is set to a non-US setting, and you enter a Groove tool based on a custom form. This code for this form includes the following call:

 

app.NavigateToForm(formID, targetRecordID)

 

 

Result

You may receive the following error:

 

AutoCreate_OnAfterInitialize: Type mismatch

Check to ensure tool permissions are set to allow participants and guests can create documents

 

Resolution

To work around this problem, have the form developer change the code to multiply the formID and targetRecordID by 1 in the line that triggers the error. The call will then look like this:

 

app.NavigateToForm(formID * 1, targetRecordID * 1)