It's not everybody who can say proudly that they were married in a pair of net curtains, writes STEPHEN DEAL. But, for 81-year-old Violet Looker, the beautiful dress she wore on her wedding day in 1946 has brought her nothing but joy.

Her story, which could come straight from a Mills & Boon novel, was born among the devastation of World War Two.

Her dashing husband Jack, who died two years ago aged 88, served overseas during the war for all but six weeks.

But during those weeks Violet, who now lives in Radley Road, Abingdon, met her husband-to-be totally by chance on two occasions.

She recalled: "The first meeting was when we were travelling up from London to Cambridge to see my sister, who we were worried about because of the bombing.

"We saw this soldier walking in the distance and I asked my mum if I should pick him up and offer him a lift. She said 'Slow down and see what he looks like!'

"He looked okay so we picked him up and he said he was also going to Cambridge to see his dear mum."

Remarkably Violet, who at 29 had never had a proper boyfriend, was then to meet Jack again. While leaving Cambridge after another visit five weeks later with her dad, she spotted a soldier looking for a lift back to London.

Five cars in front of her drove past the man so Violet decided to stop. It was Jack and, after the second chance meeting, her family started to treat him like an adopted son.

Violet kept in touch with him as he went abroad and it soon became obvious that wedding bells would be on the horizon when the war was over.

The trouble was, clothes could only be obtained with coupons at the time and her mother knew they could never possibly afford a conventional wedding dress. Knowing how fond her daughter was of Jack, though, she came up with a plan. Violet recalled: "Mother saw an advert in a local paper for some Swiss lace curtains and told me to get my coat on.

"I said 'But, mum, I can't be married in net curtains'. We'll see, she said. Mother had all the say."

She added: "She paid 40 shillings for two of these floor-to-ceiling long curtains. I said to her 'This is so silly' but she threw them on the table and said 'Now get on and make your wedding dress'.

"I didn't have a pattern, didn't know where to start. Once I started, it just seemed the Lord was giving me the know-how.

"In the end I was very happy with my achievements and asked my mother's forgiveness for condemning lace curtains for my wedding gown. I felt the happiest of brides."

When Jack was de-mobbed, the couple had a reunion and eventually married in Edgware on March 31, 1946. And the curtain tradition lived on. The left-over material was used to make a christening gown for their son Graham and has also been sent to her sister in Canada for the same purpose.

Her remarkable dress is now on display at Abingdon Museum alongside a picture of the happy bride and her dashing groom.

And Violet is delighted - and amazed - that the museum was so interested in the dress.

She said: "It's usually only royalty who have their wedding dresses on public view, isn't it?"

Jill Draper, curator at the museum, said: "It makes for a fascinating display and there is a lovely story behind it."

The dress is on display at the museum, opposite Abingdon's Market Place, until March.

Story date: Wednesday 10 February

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