Ron smiled as Mike hurried back into the bungalow. There was no need to check anything because Mike had done all that yesterday, but he seemed to feel the need to do something, and who was he to stop him?

‘Ach, Harvey,’ he muttered affectionately to the supine dog. ‘Weddings, eh? They make fools of us all.’

Harvey cocked his head, eyed him soulfully and with a soft snort, went back to snoozing in the sun.

Ron knocked the burnt tobacco from his pipe and pondered on the masterful feat of organisation it had taken to make sure today went smoothly – and most of it could be attributed to the women who seemed to have a knack for such things.

He looked at his watch, surprised at how quickly the morning had gone. Rosie, Peggy and the girls would have finished messing about at the Anchor by now, and be getting ready to leave for the walk to the Town Hall. Bertie was under strict orders from Peggy to drop off Cordelia on his way to the station cottage where he would pick up Ruby, Rita and Stan. April would be making her own way to the Town Hall with baby Paula once she’d handed over the day’s train schedule to the stand-in railway official, and Rita had ordered a taxi to fetch Peter from Cliffe.

Ron checked the time again. There was just over half an hour to go before the ceremony, so it was probably time to drive Mike down there before his nerves got the better of him.

Peggy had only managed to quickly scan through Jim’s letters as the morning’s rush had kept her more than occupied, but she was looking forward to reading them properly once the hullabaloo was all over. She saw Ron and Mike already waiting by the steps as she approached the Town Hall with Daisy, Rosie and the girls, and heaved a sigh of relief that they were on time and sober. Mike looked a bit green around the gills, but a nip from Ron’s hip flask seemed to put a bit of colour into his face and he managed to flash them a nervous smile before he followed Ron and Harvey up the steps to the entrance hall.

The previous wedding must have just finished, for the bride and groom emerged, surrounded by family and friends in a shower of confetti, reminding Peggy that she’d forgotten to buy any. But it was too late to worry about such things now. Peter was paying off the taxi and she could see Bertie’s beribboned car slowly approaching from the top of the hill.

Chivvying the others to get a move on, she eased her way through the happy group on the steps and hurried up the red-carpeted, grand staircase to the large room where the ceremony was to be held.