Eventually, I came down to Brighton. I went for an interview with a firm of, I think, Solicitors, but eventually decided I would prefer accountancy and got a job with Mr. Sheraton that was right near the Clock Tower. Strangely enough, I met someone who was a ‘Count’ (foreign) whom June and I had met in Torquay although never made contact with him again. There was a Mrs Luckman at Sheraton’s who was a disaster waiting to happen, and a Mr. Harvey. He used to describe himself as the Office Boy and she was the Office Girl. I was secretary to Mr. Sheraton. Mike was away studying for his finals (in those days you had to pass everything at one attempt, even if you didn’t get the total points you needed you still had to take the exam again – nowadays you can take one exam if you fail). Mrs Luckman and Mr. Harvey used to rave about Mike, saying how kind he was. When Mike eventually came back after his exams which were in May, and we went on our first date to the Regent Ballroom just opposite the Clock Tower (now Boots sadly). We went for a walk and Mike said we might meet his parents, but we didn’t. We then went and had a meal at a place down in the Lanes and then went back to the Regent again in the evening. Mike could actually dance and was a very good lead. We used to go to the Regent regularly. They had a very good band there. I always went home by bus after the evening. Mike was a member of the Carlton Cricket Club based at Withdean. I eventually met the other wifes and girlfriends. We used to go to Ron Hatley’s place – on the way to Rottingdean and he could play anything on the piano – you just used to have to sing the tune and he was away. Mike used to play the washboard! Janet (girlfriend of Pete Egginton) and I, if there was a beach nearby, used to go down to the beach, and then come back to the cricket match. We always went out in the evenings with the cricket club, usually to the Pump House in the Lanes. We did usually go to the pub at whatever place they had been playing. I had my 21st birthday in Brighton and Mike came also Jean & Alan came down from Manchester & also Bob (and his wife) who was teaching me how to drive. My aunt and uncle also came as well. Bob was our delivery driver – I had tried to drive with my Dad but we always ended up falling out! I eventually passed my test as the first attempt just after my 21st birthday. Mike and I went to Jersey immediately after my birthday. He had never been away from his mother before that and she was in floods of tears! My aunt wanted me to stay with her but I refused and stayed with Mike in a hotel – can’t remember the name of it. Of course, in those days you didn’t share a bedroom like today and we were separated but enjoyed the time there. I had a grumbling appendix and I went into the Woman’s Hospital that was just along the road from where Mike lived. I went in the week before Christmas and got out on Christmas Eve! Mike used to come and wave to me in the mornings before going to work and would then come and see me in the evenings along with my parents. As it was a Women’s Hospital we had lady surgeons! I was always very sick after an anesthetic. I wrote to David Port in New Zealand and decided to finish with him. I still have the letter he wrote back. I gather he eventually married an Admiral’s daughter. In the meantime, Mike applied for a job at Corralls at Shoreham and got the job as an assistant to Mr. Tester, the accountant there. After about a year, I couldn’t stand it at Sheraton’s any more and applied to George Sutton at Lovatt & Co. in Hove and got a job there so it was a bit further to travel by bus. George had been a prisoner of the Japanese for three years. Mike and I went to Paris but again were separated – he was several floors above where I was. Neither of us were very well whilst we were there and the Seine stank! I think they have cleaned it up a bit now. We did go to the Follies but both came home feeling really ill. We then went to Torquay when I think they had floods. Again, we were separated. We did enjoy Torquay though. We went to Alassio with Mike’s parents and got stuck in Paris on the ring road. A taxi driver said follow me, so we followed and found ourselves on the road to Fontainebleau where we had arranged to stay. Grandpa Case gave him 200 cigarettes that Mike’s Mum had bought. We eventually arrived in Alassio having stayed in various places on the way down. Had a good couple of weeks there. They did actually give us rooms next door to each other with a connecting door inbetween! I broke it off with Mike when I went to stay with June sometime before her wedding as he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to get married or not! However, we drifted back together again once I got home. I soon realised that he was one of the kindest, patient and warmest person I had met. He had deliberately decided to take the alternative course to his parents who could be decidedly weird. We used to go out with his parents for a meal and his Dad would always buy the Chef a drink. I was bridesmaid at June’s wedding the year before we were married together with her cousin Caroline. She married Peter Bland. I really don’t remember where we had the reception but enjoyed ourselves. Mike obviously came too. We decided to get engaged at Christmas 1960 – Mike having proposed to me in my bedroom in the October. He bought the ring for £75 – now it is worth over £3,000. My parents moved to Eastbourne in January 1961 and bought a Florists shop. We went to see the Vicar at the local Church and he flatly refused to marry us as Mike had been christened a catholic. He said it would be wrong for us to marry as there would be problems when we had children! Fortunately the vicar at the local Church just a few doors down from Mike was prepared to teach him in the Anglican faith and we used to go to private confirmation classes and talk about anything and everything and then he would say “bless you my children” and we would go home. He was a lovely old boy (well he seemed that way to us). Eventually the day came for Mike to be confirmed as an Anglican at the local Church and everything went off splendidly. With that the Vicar in Eastbourne was prepared to marry us although he wouldn’t allow us to have the bells as it might disturb the people having an afternoon nap! We also couldn’t have the choir! We bought the wedding ring – 22 carrot gold from the jeweller’s shop next door to my parents shop. It cost £14! We eventually were married on the 2nd June 1962 and had our reception at the Cumberland Hotel in Eastbourne. June, Lyn and Elaine (Elaine was Rodney’s sister) were bridesmaids. My Dad made the buguets or us. Lyn had broken her arm a few days before our wedding but it didn’t really matter. We went to Tunbridge Wells for the night and then on to Guernsey – the Richmond Hotel where we spent 10 days. I had a blue dress and jacket as my “going away” outfit together with blue shoes from Lyons Shoe Shop. Unfortunately the zip on the dress broke so I had to change once we got to the hotel in Tunbridge Wells. Grandpa Case had done up a flat in Kings Gardens in Hove (not terribly well!) and we lived there after we were married. After a few months Mike was moved to Head Office in Portsmouth and he commuted there on the train. He also had to work some Saturday mornings, so it was difficult for him playing at Carlton Cricket Club. I was able to walk to work as we lived on the seafront fairly near Lovatts. I remember once it snowed really heavily and the car was covered in snow and it was difficult to get to the station. George Sutton had a thing about employing people from abroad. He had Chris Bicknell as an articled clerk but then he employed Nik Ibrahim and Santos. Eventually he employed someone called Mr. Getgood. I still have the letter George Sutton wrote to me when I left. After 3 years we decided it was time to move to Bedhampton and we found the house where we are still living. I remember Mrs Hunt from across the road came across with a cup of tea for us. The Vospers were living at No. 1 and the Pannells at No. 3. Barbara Vosper was expecting and Kevin turned up. The Pannells already had three children although at that time Beverley was about 5, Trevor probably about 10 and Lorna 12. I used to have £5 for my housekeeping allowance and we were able to buy joints, steak and various other things. We hadn’t got round to registering with a Dr. and Mike developed an illness – had been to a meal with his Auntie Pat and he thought it was something he had eaten but eventually Mrs Daw (who lived next door) suggested we should register with her GP who was just up the road. We found ourselves with Dr. Howard who eventually emigrated to New Zealand. Anyway, we saw a GP who didn’t think there was much wrong with Mike and then on the Sunday called the GP again and a visiting GP came and said Mike had an abscess on his appendix and needed to go into hospital. He was there for three weeks and off work for two months. He eventually went back to work for two months and then had to go into hospital to have the appendix removed. By that time the abscess was growing again and they cut him right down the centre of his stomach to get rid of it. He then got an infection in the wound – again he was in hospital for three weeks and off work for another two months. He lost over a stone in weight.