Rachel and Adam's Wedding


When

2pm, August 16th, 2008.

The registrar asks you be seated at 1:40pm. The ceremony (which, strictly speaking, is a reaffirmation ceremony as we were married May 5th last year on Marconi Beach, Cape Cod) will begin at 2pm, will last about an hour, and, for your information, will include three long readings. Wedding breakfast to begin around 4:30pm-5pm; speeches 6:45pm; evening entertainment at 8:30pm -12pm; evening food & tea and coffee 9:30pm; last orders 12:45pm.


Where

The wedding takes place entirely at the Merewood Country House hotel (015394 46484), Windermere, LA23 1LH.

Directions: the hard way

From the south: get to the M6, turn onto the A591 (via A590) at junction 36.

From the north: you have several choices, but for those without a preferred route we suggest you aim for Kendal. Via Carlisle/Penrith, you take the M6 south to junction 39, and take the A6 to Kendal. From Kendal, head north on the A591 (via A5284).

In both cases, from the roundabout with the A592, it is 1.5 miles north on the A591 to the driveway to Merewood, which will be on your right. The driveway is marked with a sign but forms a tight junction with the A591 (the main road) and is easy to miss. The road leading up the hotel (Kirk Ln) is one lane and steep so please take care along it and at the junction – go slowly and watch for on-coming traffic.

Directions: the easy way

Just type your home address here for your google directions , and . But beware; you need to turn right up the second Kirk Ln (when heading north on the A591), which is too minor a road for Google to use for routing.

Trains

Nearest station is Windermere, 2.3 miles from Merewood; 2.7 miles from Briery Wood. You will need to get a taxi to the hotel. There are usually some waiting at the station, otherwise book, or call one of the above numbers on arrival. Oxenholme the Lake District is the nearest station on the West Coast mainline and the station you usually change at for Windermere. It’s a 30min drive from Oxenholme to Merewood / Briery Wood. The Oxenholme-Windermere train takes about 25mins; Euston-Oxenholme 3hrs 15mins (in theory). There are Oxenholme-Windermere trains every hour (see the PDF timetable.)

Car Hire

Lakes Car Hire, 0.8 mile from Windermere station – 015394 44408

Windermere Taxi firms

Pegasus (recommended)015394 48899
Abacus Taxis015394 88285
B-Line Taxis0800 0281481 or 015394 44644
Lakes Taxis07831 855817 or 015394 44055
Windermere Taxi services015394 42355

Accommodation

Merewood is full (it has few rooms) but the Briery Wood Hotel (Merewood’s sister hotel) is a five minute drive (0.4 mile) from Merewood. Say you are attending our wedding at Merewood to get the rates below. We will book taxis in advance for you to return to Briery Wood after the wedding.

Briery Wood Country House Hotel
Windermere, Cumbria, LA23 1ES (use LA23 1LN for Google/Mapquest/Sat-nav)
015394 33316

Tariff –

Cheaper options – B & Bs in Windermere or Ambleside are £30-50 per person per night. The YHA in Windermere starts at £13.50 per adult per night for members.


Gifts

Please, please, no gifts - Adam and I want to see people on our wedding day. We so rarely get to see family and friends (we see each other all the time!) so the real gift for us on August 16th will be the fact that you’ve made it.

People have been kind enough to insist, however, and also to ask for guidance, and so, if you would like, we would like to ask you to make a contribution to the ‘Change Cancer’ appeal set up and managed by Rachel’s honorary godfather, Keith Beattie. This would enable it to buy some pieces of equipment in commemoration of our marriage, for the ‘Henderson Suite for Cancer Care’ at West Cumberland Hospital.

So many members of Rachel’s family have died from cancer and many of them were treated at this hospital - which at the time had no such specialist cancer facility - among them, her Granddad, her Nana (who died from complications due to a cancer we didn't know she had), her Uncle Joe, her Auntie Nellie, *all* of her Granddad's brothers - Uncles Redvus, Les, Tom, and his sister, Auntie Jennie; also, in 2001, one of her closest friends, Rob Wilson. In more recent years (and also 2001) her wonderful godmother and one of her mum's closest friends, Ann Beattie (Keith's wife) died from ovarian cancer and was treated in the then just opened Henderson Suite.

The ‘Henderson Suite’ was originally a one room treatment facility with little or no privacy for patients and no specialist area for the treatment of children. The money Keith has raised in memory of Ann has so far helped to buy an additional treatment room, a quiet room, a specialist chemo unit on the children's ward, and a specialist treatment chair.

We would like to use this chance to contribute to that appeal and buy some pieces of equipment which the ward still needs. They will be marked with a plaque in commemoration of our marriage, and dedicated to Ann – our wedding is an event we know she would have loved to have been present at.

Should you choose to do this, please send cheques made payable to 'The Henderson Suite' to –

Keith Beattie, 'Change Cancer',
42 Thorncroft Gardens,
Workington,
Cumbria, CA14 4DP

Keith will send you a receipt and we’ll send you photos of what we purchase!

Contact details
Rachel (UK mobile)+44 7768 117 173
Adam (UK mobile)+44 7788 660 596
Merewood Hotel+44 15394 46484
Briery Wood Hotel+44 15394 33316
Hard of hearing

Let us know if you’d like hard copies of the speeches, readings and ceremony so you can follow them in comfort.

A note on the provision of food during the day

Whilst the wedding breakfast will be a 4 course meal affair, the evening food will be limited to fish & chips, and wedding cake. Perhaps best to have a large breakfast and eat everything put in front of you at 4:30pm!

Seating during wedding breakfast

Everyone will, as customary, be allocated to a table but there will be no assigned seating on the actual table (though probably best to allow those in high chairs to sit next to the people feeding them ;-)).

First Dance

The bride and groom will not be doing this so don’t wait – please just take to the dance floor after the cutting of the cake, at 8:30pm, whenever you wish.

Disabled seating

Please sit wherever you would feel most comfortable, the hotel has disabled access at its front entrance – ramps will be put out to cover the stairs.

Group photos

3pm - 4pm, hopefully on the lawn… please stick around - Charlie Whetham has the task of grabbing people so please look out for him!

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