Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner (The Beatles)

Get Back (You may say I'm a dreamer - Chapter 1, part 6)

And they're off...

April 18, 1953, at St Barnabas' Anglican Church in Mt Eden, and Graham Purdy was joined by his bride, Dulcie Mary Adsett, at the alter. She was being given away by one of her older brothers, Mel Adsett.

Also present - her mother, Lucy Adsett,the bridegroom's parents, Harry and Christina Purdy, their friends and officials. Nita Selman (nee Evans) was one of the bridesmaids and Bob Pegg, a pharmacist friend of Graham's, was best man.

The wedding album shows a confident and radiant bride in the bloom of youth and a dashing if somewhat nervous looking groom.

Appropriately, the wedding breakfast took place at Lewis Eady's store. 

After a honeymoon in Norfolk Island via Sydney, the future looked bright. 

Nita (left), and bride

Merv, Bob (best man), groom

Life together began at 5 Oak Street, Royal Oak, a quiet suburban street close to Mt Eden where the Purdy family lived, Mt Albert, where Graham had gone to school, and One Tree Hill, where the Adsetts lived.

New jobs for both of them were at a Royal Oak pharmacy, Walls and Roche: Dulcie as a shop assistant; Graham as a pharmacist.

The mid fifties were stable years in New Zealand (pronounced Nu Zild). the National government was in office and in firm control thanks to the Prime Minister, Keith Holyoake. 

Honeymooners 

In the arts it was a momentous time - Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) was published, Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett) was performed, James Dean kicked it with Rebel Without a Cause, Bill Haley hit it with Rock Around the Clock, Marlon Brando was riding a wave On the Waterfront, and Bond, James Bond made a mark with Casino Royale.

Clearly, culturally, things were never going to be the same again. This was the nucleus of a new phenomenon - popular, or pop culture; something that would eventually become very dear to my heart.

And then 1956 rolled to its sleepy close and 1957 burst forth and Dulcie Purdy found out she was pregnant. 

The Purdy clan swung into preparations for the big day looming over the family. Christina had no doubt - it was going to be a girl, her grand-daughter. She immediately went out and bought the most expensive doll she could find and put it on the top of her wardrobe in Roch-dene, and waited as 1957 rolled on.

Love and peace - Wozza