Folk devotee weds at start of this year’s Sidmouth folk festival

HE proposed under the stars on the last night of FolkWeek 2010, so it was fitting Jack Parker and his fiancee Margaret Seaby should return to Sidmouth for their wedding at the start of this year’s folk festival.

Jack, 60, a devotee of the event since 1978, married Margaret at Kennaway House last Thursday.

Margaret, 63, who has been with Jack for 12 years at their home in Didsbury, Manchester, has come to love FolkWeek too, and has other associations with Sidmouth as she visited her aunt who lived there.

With lavender the theme for bouquets - Margaret’s sister Barbara was maid of honour - Jack sang the 17th century English folk song Lavenders Blue to Margaret at their lunchtime reception for 24 family and friends at Kennaway House.

This was followed by dinner at the Royal York and Faulkner Hotel, where the couple have stayed during FolkWeek.

A silver wedding ring was made for Margaret, a retired literary consultant for a local authority in the North West, by her neice, Becci Cox.

She also designed her engagement ring with 14 diamonds and six aquamarines.

Jack, who has a been a regular singer at the Anchor and the Swan singarounds, has spent nearly 40 years working for HM Revenue and Customs “spending time on the front line putting smugglers behind bars.”

The couple both have two children who attended the wedding as did Margaret’s two grandchildren.