Howard & Beth’s Wedding – 12^th April, 1975

Bikies always have a problem when attending a wedding: should they wear the usual greasy leather jacket and scruffy jeans and risk looking slightly out of place amongst the elegantly attired guests, or should they dress up and look even more out of place when riding their bikes? Some want to have it both ways, and wearing a suit they drive a car (shame!) to the church.

Suffice it to say that Brendan, Darren and Big Daddy and a few others looked very very nice indeed; the gentleman from God’s Squad with denims and jacket seemed more the bikie image, and the enormous chain he wore slung over his shoulders, and secured by a heavy padlock on his back, seemed, somehow, rather symbolic of the day’s proceedings.

About 30 club members attended the wedding, held on a glorious Saturday morning at Kew Baptist Church. Howard, and the groomsman, Bryce, looked stunning in their powder blue suits with the black velvet trimmings; and Beth, as always, looked charming in her traditional bridal outfit. The minister was the Rev. M.B. Hancock, Beth’s father, and the ceremony was simple, dignified and brief.

Afterwards, the bikes escorted the bridal cars through Melbourne to Elwood for photographs in the Alistar Clark Memorial Rose Gardens. The ride was done at high speed (was Howard driving?) and included some hairy stretches along the Boulevard, Alexander Ave and St. Kilda Road. At Elwood the party dispersed; several of us headed out towards Sandringham, and got a late lunch at the Sandringham Hotel, and had coffee afterwards at Dave’s place near the golf course before heading home, and preparing for a party at Frankston that night, but that’s another story.

----- Mike Davis.