St. Martin- in-the-Fields school, Trafalgar Square is where I first spotted Mary when I was fourteen. I used to stare at her in church every morning, standing opposite me in the the Choir, with her black hair and dark eyes and I promised myself that I would marry her. Unfortunately for me Mary changed schools when she turned thirteen to attend the Northwest Polytechnic school in Kentish Town.
I was devastated!
I had a great idea, and went about putting my plan into action, first I sneaked into the headmaster's room when school finished and obtained Mary's address.
I used to cycle around the streets where she lived hoping to catch a glimpse of that little face that I adored and to complement her on how she looked. It was no accident that my first job after leaving school at fifteen was in the same suburb where Mary lived.
A really big impression on Mary was needed. The fashion accessory of the fifties was to ride around on a motor scooter. I was very aware of the current fashions and fads, so I bought a Lambretta motor scooter as soon as I turned sixteen.
Mary was very fond of Regents Park Rose Gardens where I had spotted her a few times.
On a lovely August summers day I saw her there with her friend Pamela and so as not to be too obvious I offered them both a joy ride. Pamela first, Mary second. Poor Pamela had to walk home. Mary was hooked!
Pamela eventually became the girlfriend of my best friend Tony who also owned a scooter. London became our playground! We were in the fashion of the time!
I asked Mary what is her favourite colour and the next time I called on her I had the Lambretta resprayed blue, her favourite colour.
We started dating whenever her very strict father allowed her to see me. It was only for visits to the cinema or day time activities. A very strict curfew time was respected by me. Holding hands and kissing in the cinema is as far as we dared to go.
The Lambretta had to be kept in low profile, because it caused Mary's mother great anxiety.
After getting to know each other I realized Mary's character was as beautiful as her face and we spoke of marriage. Mary had no history and her manners and social skills where exemplary. Mary gave me encouragement by telling me that I was different to other boys, she said I was always tastefully attired with good manners and her parents accepted me even though they were shocked to find out that I was a registered Alien born in Communist Poland, because by then I spoke English like a native Londoner.
Shortly after her sixteenth birthday I proposed and to my astonishment she accepted. Her parents did not object to this cheeky little foreigner and gave us their blessing.
We married in August 1959 in St. Mary's Catholic Church in the suburb of St. Johns Wood, she was barely seventeen and the rest as they say, is history.
It took four years and hundreds of hours of overtime to save enough money for a deposit on our first house and having three children by the age of twenty three made the economics even harder.
People gossiped and said it will never last, we proved them wrong. HM Queen Elizabet sent Congratulations on our Diamond Jubilee.
