Wedding date 15.12.1984

WHEN Jim met Coral, it was like a scene from one of the theatre productions he was so fond of. 

"I saw her across a crowded room, standing behind a piano. I thought she was a lovely looking girl and decided to find out if she was married," Jim says.

Coral says she wasn't particularly interested at that time.

For this little seed of romance to grow and flourish, it would take time and perseverance on Jim's part, but as they were both members of the Bendigo Operatic Society and both in the production of Half a sixpence, propinquity was on Jim's side.

"Jim was very dapper as playwright Chitterlow, and I played Ann, the leading lady," Coral says. 

In their next production together, Jim was either late or never at rehearsals as Coral remembers it. "In the end I said to someone, 'who on earth is this Jim Evans'?

Jim was a teacher at Golden Square High School and Coral worked at the Education Office, so their interests were intertwined. 

The couple was married in the Bendigo conservatory, having made a hasty retreat from the conservatory gardens on the day. "We had checked out the gardens only the week before and they were beautiful.

"But on the Saturday morning the Parks & Gardens people had cleared everything out of those plant beds except the roses, so we adjourned to the ferns. It was a lovely hot day and after the wedding we had the reception in mum's backyard.

"It was nothing over the top, just a relaxing afternoon with about 30 friends and relatives. 

"My girlfriend Glenda was a dab hand at the canapés, aunty made éclairs, and mum won an iced wedding cake and presented the beauty to us on the day. Neil Roxburgh, from the Green Carnation, made my bouquet, and we had Glenda Bishop as a witness. 

 "It was a delightful, no fuss sort of wedding."

Jim remembers his best man was Kenn Taylor and they had live music at the ceremony. "The students from Golden Square High came along and played guitar and flute. It was great." 

Jim and Coral performed together in David Williamson's The Removalists, with Bendigo Theatre Company director, John Murray, in key roles. This was their last theatre production before moving to the Bellarine Peninsula, where they helped found the Peninsula Players.

Jim continued teaching, but at Queenscliff High School, and for the next seven years they were coastal dwellers, until retirement and the lure of travelling Australia called them.

"Fremantle very nearly won our hearts permanently, but Bendigo was home and where mum was, so we came back," Coral adds.