PORTSMOUTH BLITZ

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 102, 2 May 1941, Page 4

PORTSMOUTH BLITZ

EFFECT ON WEDDING

WELLINGTON BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM

A wedding of interest to Wellington people took place in England recently, when Miss Betty Mackenzie, formerly of Wellington, and Captain Brian Canavan. Royal Marines, and late of Auckland and Wellington, were married in the Eastnay Barracks, Portsmouth. ' '

Miss Mackenzie, a Queen Margaret College old girl, has been living in Hampstead,. London, with her mother and sister, Jean, for a number of years. Captain Canavan's many friends , in both Wellington; and Auckland will be interested to learn that he.joned the Royal Marines at the outbreak of the war, and is now serving "somewhere abroad."

The wedding took place on the day of Portsmouth's biggest "blitz," January 10. " Although the day was beautifully fine and sunny,: within a few

hours of dusk, the raiding bombers came over in a large force and showered explosive and incendiary bombs all over the city.

BURNS FROM INCENDIARIES

The wedding party, who were guests at the Queen's Hotel, were driven from their shelter through the hotel catching fire, and the bride's mother, bridesmaids, and groomsmen were forced to seek shelter elsewhere. After trudging two miles, during which time the party had several narrow escapes, two of the members receiving burns from showering incendiaries, they reached the residence of a friend who placed her coal cellar at their disposal for the remainder of the night. After this ordeal and experence, the party were glad to return to the comparative safety of London.