“There were lots of good reasons why this was the only date in September that suited us,” Margot says.

“The main one was that we had to be back from the honeymoon for Patrick’s work.”

The wedding was held at St Paul’s Cathedral in Myers Street, and the reception afterwards was at the Persian Room, with all the ornate wall hangings as a backdrop. The whole gathering was mighty happy when Essendon won, Patrick remembers.

“The first dress I decided on and showed my girlfriend, she said I looked like a milkmaid and dragged me off shopping. She wanted something with the ‘wow’ factor, and I supposed I did too,” Margot recalls.

The newly married couple spent a couple of years working in Melbourne and then headed overseas to spend the next seven years in England with Pat’s family. 

“The opportunities in Australia were beckoning, so in 1993 we came back to Melbourne. We stayed there for eight years, and travelled up and down the Calder to visit my family regularly, until we moved home to Bendigo 15 years ago.

“We’re aunties and uncles, godparents and ‘greats’ now, in every sense of the word. Our dearest ‘child’ is Koko our Siberian husky, not that we are allowed to have favourites.

“We love golf and Patrick loves travel. His greatest delight is going through the international gates at Tullamarine; he doesn’t care where he ends up.”

Patrick says one of the best things about their marriage over the years is that they have remained great friends.

“Friendship has sustained our marriage. It’s been a ‘mixed’ marriage and could have ended badly. Margot is Australian and I’m English, Margot’s a Catholic and I’m a C of E, I’m a male, and Margot is a female, of course,” he said. 

This happy couple say they are looking forward to celebrating the next 30 years together, at their 60th wedding anniversary.