BUT for the help of some kind postmen and a quick witted ship’s Captain, David Dornom might not have been at the church on time to marry Paddy on August 9, 1958.

Married at Cheam, Surrey, both had grown up in the area and until moving to Devon in 1994 they had lived in Surrey and Sussex, Paddy being much involved in music, horses and the life of their area.

David had joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 15, having almost 40 years at sea mostly the Mediterranean, Australia and New Zealand.

Coming from Bombay to Aden in the monsoon season, David’s ship had received a report of a ship that was sinking.

"It was terrible weather. We turned this passenger ship around, steamed for 12 hours and found the ship, by which time the sea was beginning to break over its foc’scle, and its forward hold filling with water.

"If my captain had not been as strong as he was, I might not have made it back," said David.

"I was in charge of the emergency lifeboat but our captain said that he would not put his own men at risk and that they should put their boat down. After many attempts we were able eventually to get a rope across to the boat and pull her alongside.

"We had nets down all over the place for people to climb up. We got the boat alongside and got the people off, the last one, traditionally, being the Captain and he had just got on the ladder up from the water when a wave came and swept his boat away.

"Warning shipping of the sinking ship we went on to Aden, where the survivors were sent ashore to be flown back to Italy.

“At Port Said we passed an Italian liner about to leave southbound, and as we came in the people on the other ships all cheered.

“We got back to London one day late, and as I was in charge of the mail it meant I was not allowed to leave the ship until all the mail was off. But the London dockers had decided to go on strike.

"However, the postmen knew about our wedding that Saturday, this was Wednesday, and they got the mail off themselves.

"I got home on Thursday evening. Paddy had met me at the docks. I had previously been measured for my suit, we picked that up on the Friday and got married the next day," he said.

They had a week’s honeymoon in Newquay and then David was off on another ship. That was the pattern of their lives with David being away for months at a time.

David is the fourth generation of sea-going captains in a Devonshire family whose roots go back to 1760. One branch in Salcombe was boat builders and fishermen, and numbered three members of the lifeboat crew there.

Trained as a secretary, Paddy had been a school secretary, then a time as editor of the "Chichester Advertiser" newspaper, but her real love was the stage and singing.

She was lead soprano with five operatic societies in Cheam and Chichester. A keen horsewoman, she was a member of West Sussex Riding Club and became chairman of Mid Devon Riding Club, specialising then in dressage.

In Chichester Paddy had been a principal fundraiser for the Missions to Seamen, now called the Mission to Seafarers and also much involved in events such as the Armada and D-Day commemorations.

Nor did her energy flag after they moved to Yeoford where Paddy played the organ at the village Holy Trinity Church and at Colebrooke Parish Church.

For almost 40 years Paddy has worked with Save The Children, much of which has been as vice-chairman of their Sussex branch and then Crediton.

She was vice-chairman of the committee of the old Yeoford Village Hall and was on the parish council at West Wittering, Sussex.

David is a member of Crediton branch Royal British Legion and a Poppy Appeal collector for the Yeoford area.

He is Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, co-ordinator of two model railway groups, was a founder member of the one in Sussex and an extremely clever model maker, giving lectures on making model railways on a shoestring.

He is a past chairman of the Old Worcester’s Association for the South West. HMS Worcester was his naval training college.

He is a Liveryman of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners and a Freeman of the City of London.

A Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve, David has the Reserve Decoration with two long service bars for 35 years’ naval service.

During his naval training he served on frigates, minelayers and minesweepers.

From HMS Worcester David went to sea as a Cadet with the Ellerman and Bucknell Steamship Company and then P & O Line as an officer.

For some time in Devon he was Quartermaster with Cheriton Bishop and Tedburn St Mary Scouts. He had been a Cub and Scout at Cheam and a member of the Deep Sea Rover Scouts.

David and Paddy have two sons, one farming in Devon the other General Manager of an hotel in Edinburgh. They have three grandchildren, one of whom is a Scottish international fisherman.