AFTER 150 years of trials and tribulations, British oldest Punch and Judy married last week.
To celebrate the anniversary of the outrageous couple, who have been well-loved by generations of children, Visit Llandudno hosted the ceremony at St Trillo's Chapel, Rhos on Sea, the smallest church in the UK.
Professor Codman’s Punch and Judy show has been performed on Llandudno pier since 1860 by the Codman family and to this day, creator Richard Codman’s great great grandson, Jason performs the show daily from March to September.
Four generations of Codmans have performed the show to Royalty including Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra, King Edward VII and the Prince of Wales, who would later become King George V, as well as millions of visitors to North Wales.
Jim Jones from Visit Llandudno said: “It’s absolutely fantastic that Llandudno has the oldest Punch and Judy in Wales and indeed the whole of Britain. We wanted to celebrate this by finally getting them married, after all it’s only fair that poor Judy finally gets her big day after all these years.
“The Codman family have been present in Llandudno for such a long time and this will be a fantastic day for them as well,” he added.
Judy’s dress was specially designed and created by Denise Kendall from The Wedding Centre Rhyl and the flowers for the day come specially prepared by Andrea Jones from Luna Flowers in Rhos-On-Sea.
The show still uses the original solid oak puppets which were carved from driftwood more than 150 years ago.
Jackie Millband-Codman, great granddaughter of Richard Codman I, said “This is brilliant; we love the idea of Judy finally getting her own back on Punch and getting him down the aisle. As a family we’ve lived in Llandudno for over 150 years and we worked out that we’d put on around 94,000 shows over the years to nearly 3million people.”
Donna Dawson, a psychologist specialising in personality, behaviour and relationships, advised Judy to insist on some changes in their turbulent relationship now she has finally got the mischievous character down the aisle. She said: “For one thing, she should send Punch on an anger management course. If he shows willing, then at least he is aware that he has a temper-and-violence problem, and that he needs some professional help in dealing with it.
“She could then follow that up with couple’s therapy, to make sure that they know how to communicate with each other, without resorting to screaming and fighting. And Judy should be warned that it might be too late to teach an old puppet new tricks,” she added.