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Marriage so good Mary and Judith do it again

27/12/2006

OLDHAM'S first gay couple to officially tie the knot repeated their vows on the first anniversary of their historic union.

Mary and Judith Tomlinson-Harrison were taken to Oldham register office in a stretch pink limo last week, where they re-dedicated their vows as they celebrated being together for 32 years and married for one.

Judith, 58, said: "We have waited a long time for this. We were never able to express how we felt about each other and we had to keep our relationship low key.

"Now we just want to shout it from the rooftops."

The happy couple said support from Oldhamers since they got married - in a blaze of publicity on December 21, 2005 - has been superb.

Mary, 63, said: "The reaction from people has been great, really wonderful. They've been coming up to congratulate us and people have been really supportive."

Although married, life has not changed their relationship one bit, and they have been finding that their new double-barrelled names are causing some problems.

Judith said: "It's absolute chaos. The names won't fit in a computer and people keep calling me Mrs J T Harrison."

Apart from the limo, the ceremony was exactly the same - except this time Mary's granddaughter Vicki, 13, who was bridesmaid first time around, read the best man's speech.