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Rings
Apolgies if we come over a bit Grand Designs here, but we love the way these eco-friendly, recycled wood rings made by Cornish designer Justin Duance blend organic tones with contemporary craftsmanship and artistry.
Like those steel, glass and timber structures that have Kevin McCloud grinning like a loon, these rings change over time with wear; which, in years to come, should leave you with the feeling that it’s hard to imagine what your hand would look like without it. Because the wood isn’t attached to the metal it can expand and contract depending on your lifestyle. They can be worn all the time and even in water. The masculine design makes them perfect as a men’s wedding ring and they’re none more British, so they get a big thumbs up from us. www.justind.co.uk
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Lords
Quite fancy getting married within the opulent and prestigious surroundings of Lords cricket ground but not sure you could convince your fiancée of its romantic pedigree? Well romance might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of the sound of leather on willow (if that’s your thing, we’re not judging) but those who know the full story of The Ashes will know better.
You probably know the basics: the term ’Ashes’ was first used after England lost to Australia – for the first time on home soil – at The Oval on 29th August 1882. A day later, the Sporting Times carried a mock obituary to English cricket which concluded that: “The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”. A few weeks later, an English team, captained by the Hon. Ivo Bligh (later Lord Darnley) set off to tour Australia, with Bligh vowing to return with “the ashes”; his Australian counterpart, WL Murdoch, similarly vowed to defend them.
Whilst in Melbourne, Ivo Bligh and his team stayed at Rupertswood, the home of Sir William and Lady Clarke in nearby Sunbury. Sir William was the President of the Melbourne Cricket Club who had sponsored the tour. On 24th December 1882 they played a social game against a side from the Rupertswood estate. After the match, as a joke, Lady Clarke and her friends decided to present to the English captain a token of what he had come to Australia to retrieve. The ladies presented to Bligh a tiny terracotta urn into which, it is believed, they had placed the ashes of a bail burned after the social match. This was a personal gift and memento of his stay in Rupertswood.
The Ashes Urn was the first of many such private mementoes of Ashes victories to be created over the years, but for Ivo Bligh this particular gift soon assumed a much larger personal significance. One of the ladies who presented the Urn to Ivo Bligh at Rupertswood was Miss Florence Rose Morphy. A romance between Ivo and Florence blossomed and soon Bligh was writing home to ask permission to request Florence’s hand.
The Ashes Urn came to represent a symbol of their courtship.
Ivo and Florence were married on 9th February 1884. They lived in East Melbourne until 1888 when they returned to England. The Ashes Urn went with them. In 1900 Ivo Bligh became the Eighth Earl of Darnley and the Ashes Urn was given pride of place in his study at Cobham Hall. Lord and Lady Darnley always considered the Urn to be a personal gift to one another.
Following Lord Darnley’s death in 1927 his widow gave the Ashes Urn to M.C.C. who continue to care for and display this most important of all sporting relics.
So you see ladies, if he wants to tie the knot at Lords it’s because he’s being all romantic.
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