My marriage

Apart from historic photographs, unless otherwise stated, all photos on this site were taken by  members of my family. 

Please don't republish them without my permission.  Thanks.

© 2008 Mark Collins

10-06-2010

My marriage

I met Jill while at the University of Surrey in Guildford. She was studying Nursing and me Electronic Engineering. Jill's family come from Ashington in Northumberland, although her broad Geordie accent has slowly faded since she moved south.

I married Jill Robinson on August 25th 1984 at St Andrew's Church in Cobham, Surrey.  The wedding was attended by many friends and family, the Collins contingent arriving in a coach ready for a party!

The photos were taken by Roger Smith as a wedding present.

Our first home was in Cobham, Surrey.  An end of terrace Victorian cottage, the house needed loads of work - we moved the staircase and most of the internal walls. Ruth was born (on my brother's wedding day) in Epsom hospital in May 1987.

From there we moved to East Molesey where Daniel was born in April 1989.

We had 12 years of marriage which ended after a few difficult years while I tried to come to terms with being gay. Being a committed member of an evangelical church whose beliefs on the subject were somewhat different to my evolving views made the process of 'coming out' extremely painful and traumatic.  However with the support of my counsellor, family, and some close friends I made it through. 

Although we had difficult times, we have two brilliant children (picture taken here in May1991) and many wonderful memories to show for our twelve years together and I still count Jill as a good friend.