Golden days for Mr and Mrs Harome (From Gazette & Herald)

Golden days for Mr and Mrs Harome

DOREEN and Tot Wardle have been synonymous with the pretty village of Harome for over half a century.

Now, the stalwarts of its community life have celebrated their golden wedding with a big party in the village hall.

Doreen, renowned for her talks on Yorkshire dialect - their home is even called Hoower House - is one of only a handful of recognised experts in the North Riding dialect and has had audiences in village halls for miles around in raptures over her stories, not least the civic heads at the recent Norton Town Council civic dinner.

Tot - "his proper name is Edward but no one ever calls him that round here," says Doreen - was born at Leppington and spent many years as an agricultural contractor, initially employed by Robin Bowes, before starting his own business in partnership.

Today, he is vice-president of the village hall, chairman of Harome Parish Council, poppy day organiser in the Harome and Nunnington area, and his long service in the Territorial Army and to the community earned him the British Empire Medal.

For 38 years, he spent nearly every weekend in the TA, serving in no fewer than eight regiments after joining the Home Guard at 14 - "I didn't tell them that's all I was, though," he says.

As a result of regiments merging over the years, he served with the West Yorkshire Regiment, Yorkshire Hussars, Royal Corps of Transport, 2150 Field Ambulance, the Queen's Own Yeomanry and then finally transferred to the Pay Corps.

As a farming contractor, he visited farms over an area stretching from Sutton Bank to Bransdale, threshing corn, combine harvesting, baling and ploughing.

His busy life also saw him being the local postman for 25 years, and with the self-styled and intriguing position of "interment finaliser" - better known as the village gravedigger. He has also been sexton at the local church and chairman of the village hall committee.

Tot's brother, Peter, and sister Kathleen have also celebrated their golden weddings.

Doreen, 71, meanwhile is still working part-time as a tour guide at Duncombe Park, home of Lord and Lady Feversham, and for 20 years has been the Gazette & Herald's correspondent for Harome and Helmsley.

The couple, who met at a dance at the Pickering Memorial Hall, recall that on the day they married at St Andrew's Church, Middleton, Tot, now 77, had been threshing corn at a nearby farm on the Saturday morning and had to rush to Malton to buy a ring, then immediately dash back home to get spruced up for his big day and get to the church on time.

But after a honeymoon in Scotland, their romance was put on ice when they had to live apart for a month until they could get a home of their own from the local council.

"It was the only way we could get sufficient points for a council house," laughed Doreen.

The couple have seven children, four boys and three girls, and 12 grandchildren, ranging in age from two to 29 years.

"Our party was the first time they had ever all been together - it was a reel good neet," she said.

Updated: 11:44 Wednesday, March 31, 2004