Joan Schofield’s wedding dress

Increasingly during the twentieth century the influence for fashion came from the United States and Hollywood film.

Joan Schofield, nee Tarbuck, married David on 6th June 1964 at St Paul’s, Halliwell. Joan and David met each other in 1960 at the Civic, a dance held in the Town Hall. They courted for two years before David asked Joan’s father for permission to marry her.

They were then engaged for a further two years, each living at their respective parents’ homes. Joan explains the two year engagement:

"My parents, my father particularly, would not have allowed me to get married under the age of 21…. [and] we had to save up you know, we had to get a house, and we did a lot of saving. …to set up home."

The wedding was organised for the couple by Joan’s father, a successful businessman, who treated the organisation of the wedding in a very business-like fashion. Like many couples, when it came to the reception, they felt as if it was their parent’s celebration. As Joan recalls:

"The wedding list always makes me smile…. Mostly they were made up of my father’s business associates and all his Masonic friends, same with David’s parents, and we just sort of fitted in the middle."

Mrs Heaton (also known as Poppy Hinds) was chosen to be Joan’s dressmaker because of her reputation, and in Mrs Heaton Joan found another director:

"You know, Poppy Hinds, once you saw her, she organised everything. “Now your flowers Joan would be best made by a lady in Farnworth. I like her arrangements. Now you must go to her. And your hair. Now you must have your hair in such a style. I think Gladys Little would be very good…. She will do it how we want it for the head dress, so you must go to her.” So really, things were organised for you. Quite different to today."

Like most brides Joan already had an idea of the sort of dress she wanted to wear.

"At the time, and you’re going to laugh at this, at the time The Sound of Music was quite in vogue, the film…. When Maria walked down the aisle in that fabulous dress I just thought: oh yes, I’d just love a dress that trailed yards and yards behind me so when I walked I had this tremendous train following me up the aisle."

"And that was how I described myself to Poppy Hinds, because she asked me, “Now Joan, how do you see yourself?”  I said, “Oh, that dress Maria had on, you know, the long” – “Oh yes” she said, “We’ll work on that”."

Heaton, of course, developed on this idea, creating a long train that went from the shoulder blades rather than the waist, and making sleeves that were closely fitted (in fact fastened with a zip) and came to a point on the back of the hand.

Mrs Heaton not only make Joan’s dress but came to her house on the morning of the wedding to help her dress, and then went to the church and reception to arrange her dress for the photographs.

She was also one of the guests at the wedding and reception. On a day full of memories, Joan recalls one that stood out from the rest:

“the bit I liked best…. was when she got hold of the train and flung it up in the air and it was like a cloud, and then the weight of it as I walked up the aisle, it is something I’ll never forget. It was fantastic…. it was just an amazing feeling.”






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