London, Sep 13 (IANS) A bride in Britain staged a three-week sit-in demonstration to finally prevent from closing a 126-year-old church where she wishes to marry – just like her mother, grandmother and great-great-grandmother.
Emily Morton, 21, had always dreamed of being the fourth generation of her family to have a wedding in the picturesque Victorian All Saints church in her home village of Maerdy in south Wales.
She and her 23-year-old fiancee Aaron Jones had booked their big day eight months ago at the church.
But officials decided the church – opened in 1885 in memory of a mining disaster which killed 81 men – had to close because it needs thousands of pounds in repairs.
‘I used to imagine the day when I would be floating up the aisle. Every little girl dreams about her wedding day,’ Emily was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
‘My great-great-gran was married here in 1923, and I was desperate to carry on that tradition just like my mother and grandmother did. I was christened here and have been coming to the church all of my life. I could picture every detail of my wedding. It was heartbreaking to have it all taken away,’ she said.
But, at least 50 defiant villagers staged a round-the-clock sit-in for three weeks in a bid to make senior clergy from the Church in Wales give them a reprieve.
Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan paid a personal visit to Emily and told her: ‘Your wedding is back on.’
Emily’s late great-great-grandmother Sophia Ann Barkway wed in 1923, grandmother Celia Murphy, now 61, in 1969 and mother Sarah Morton, now 41, in 1988.
Archbishop Morgan has allowed the village to buy the church for 1,000 pounds – even though it was valued at 25,000 pounds.
The whole village is raising up to 400,000 pounds to bring the church back to its former glory.
Emily is now busy preparing for the ceremony next weekend.
‘It is fantastic. I’m so happy to be getting married here. It just shows what people can achieve when you all work together. It will be a brilliant wedding day for all of us,’ she said.
