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No Brief Encounter...
Marriage for Jim and Marion is sparkling on their diamond day
by Denis Aris
LIFE has been no Brief Encounter for Jim and Marion Russell, who celebrate their diamond wedding on Easter Saturday, but the famous film has special memories for Marion. As an air raid warden and member of the Women's Voluntary Service on station duty in war-time Carnforth, she watched Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard filming the scene in Brief Encounter where they run up the subway to a waiting train. For Jim, the start to marriage was an equally brief encounter, as he was called-up during his honeymoon and spent the rest of the war with the Royal Engineers, landing in France on D-Day plus two and going on through Belgium and Holland in to Germany. The couple, who have lived at Lancaster Road, Carnforth, for more than 50 years, met at a 'flannel dance in Carnforth Co-op Hall in 1931, a dance designed as a teenage break away from the formal ball dresses and suits which were usually worn for dances at the time. They married at Carnforth Parish Church on March 25, 1940. As a lad, Mr Russell got a job in the goods office at Lancaster station and , stayed with the railway for his working life, retiring 20 years ago as supervisory foreman with National Carriers Ltd. Marion was a teacher at Bolton-le-Sands Boys School and Carnforth North Road Council School before and during the war. Then she became a teacher at The Loyne School, Lancaster, where her daughters Marilyn and Julia were pupils. The couple now have six grandchildren with a great grand-child on the way.  Mrs Russell played hockey for Carnforth Ladies and is a member of both the Townswomen's Guild and Women's Institute. She enjoys knitting, sewing and embroidery. Since retirement the active couple, now both aged 84, have travelled widely abroad and in Britain and belong to many local clubs. Mr Russell is president of the OAP group and Mrs Russell has been treasurer for 17 years. Together they run Carnforth Over 60s Club and are members of Cragbank Over 50s. Mrs Russell has had two books published - How Carnforth Grew and How Carnforth Steamed Into The 20th Century. Her third book, A Childhood In Carnforth, is with the printers and timed to appear on their diamond wedding day. They are celebrating their diamond wedding with a dinner for 50 family members, quite low-key compared to their golden wedding celebrations which involved a family dinner, a flight to Egypt on Concorde, a Mediterranean Cruise with 150 students, and a SAGA holiday in Eastbourne with 25 other golden wedding couples. No Brief Encounter.... - Westmorland Gazette 24th March 2000
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