Ev and Dennis — Commitment Ceremony 26 December 2003
We have been together since January 2003. We have considered ourselves married for a long time, commitment absolute. We have had in mind having some ceremonial event, to celebrate. We wanted to do this when our children were comfortable and assured. We then had to address the question of whom to invite. We did not want a huge event, we wanted something modest, focused on commitment. Also there was the problem of how, when, we could ever get a broader family gathering together: the Morgans (Ev's mother and four siblings and family) and the Argalls (Dennis's mother, siblings and their families), the Pettigrews (Ev's late husband Andy's mother and siblings and their families) and the Grays (Dennis's late wife Margaret's sister and family).
Children are central to marriage, and we realised that our children were the central consideration in our marriage too, that the people before whom, to whom, we should express our commitment were our children and their loved ones.
We invited them to come to Bundor, in Tomerong, on 26 December 2003. Not everybody could be there on the day, we have some signatures to add later. We both spoke off the cuff about how we met via the internet, and how we felt about each other, then we more formally spoke as follows in this Bundor Declaration to which we signed, and others witnessed - Bindi and Matumba Isis (and the hand print of Banjo); Bianca Pettigrew; Liz Argall and Mikey McClure; Cat Argall and Adam Lugg, and Bianca's close friend and fellow-doctor Nicole, with us for Christmas before joining her husband Mike on posting to the embassy in Tehran.