Announcements

HEXHAM Football Club midfielder Steven Coates married Kelly Marie Bland at Hexham Abbey on August 25.
The bridegroom is the son of David and Dorothy Coates, of Hexham. He attended the town’s Queen Elizabeth High School and Teesside University and is a business analyst for British Airways.
The bride is the daughter of Stuart James Bland, of Gloucester, and Gillian Margaret Taylor, of Newcastle.
She went to Seaton Burn High School and Sunderland University, and is a youth worker for the Longbenton Youth Project.
Given away by her father, the bride wore a 1950s-style strapless empire line dress in ivory lace with a two-tier waist-length veil with diamante detail. She carried a hand-tied posy of mixed pastel avalanche and amnesia vintage roses.
She was attended by Sarah Gray, the bridegroom’s sister, who wore a pale gold, strapless, tea-length dress and carried a smaller version of the bride’s bouquet.
The bride’s cousin Kayleigh Thomson, the bride’s niece Jaimie Bland and the bridegroom’s niece Madeleine Emma Gray were flower girls.
They wore ankle-length gold lace and chiffon dresses and wore hair bands decorated with fresh flowers.
The bridegroom had two best men – his brothers, Michael David Coates and Scott Christopher Coates.
Ushers were the bridegroom’s brother-in-law, Daniel Spencer Gray, the bride’s nephew, Keaton Hart, and the bridegroom’s nephew, Orin Daniel Gray.
The bride entered the Abbey to the Trumpet Voluntary, and the couple left to Toccata.
During the service, the hymns Lord of the dance and Jerusalem were sung, while the bride’s cousin George Vasey and university friend Elliot Cardona gave readings.
The wedding reception, including a high tea and evening hog roast, was held at Hexham Racecourse, and the couple spent their honeymoon on the west coast of America, in Nevada and Las Vegas.
Photograph by Kat Timmins