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Ghosts Archive 2003

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First published on 3 Jan 2003

A COUPLE became the first people in 60 years to have their marriage blessed in the church of a ghost village.

John Syme and Sylke Woods walked down the aisle of St Giles's Church on Saturday in the eerie setting of the lost village of Imber in the heart of Salisbury Plain.

The last wedding there took place in 1943, just before the MoD ordered all the villagers to evacuate so Imber could be used for vital war training. They never returned. The village, complete with church and Old Bell Inn, are now regularly used for live fire training and exercises.

Mr Syme, from Warminster, is one of many people who have campaigned to have the exile lifted and has relatives buried in Imber's Baptist graveyard.

The only time people are allowed to worship at the church is one Saturday in September. An open day in the summer saw 2,000 people visit the village.

Mr Syme, 54, an independent town, district and county councillor, said: "We were very pleased to be allowed to hold the blessing there. It's a very special place and we thought there was nowhere else we could have the marriage blessed."

He and Miss Woods, 47, were married at Warminster Register Office and the Rev David Belcher blessed the union at St Giles.

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