How two weddings on the same day during the heatwave of 1976 almost ended in disaster with collapsing parents, empty church halls and furnace-like temperatures

By MATT STRUDWICK, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 00:13, 26 June 2026 | Updated: 00:15, 26 June 2026 Standing arm in arm outside the church where they had just tied the knot, Peter and Sharon Heath look every inch as if they had just celebrated the perfect wedding.  But behind Peter's smart suit, Sharon's elegant wedding dress and the bouquet of flowers she was clutching lay a day that had nearly ended in disaster.  The young loved-up couple had been standing at the altar in the middle of their ceremony when Peter's already agitated father, Charlie, slid down the pew and collapsed.  It was June 26, 1976, and Britain was in the midst of a heatwave that brought 15 consecutive days of searing heat above 32C. Moments before he collapsed, Charlie, then aged 44, had been lambasting one of his brothers for turning up wearing a safari suit before he passed out due to heat stroke. Nearby guests at St Dunstan's Church in Cheam, Surrey, rushed to his aid with the spectacle, causing the nuptials to be postponed for five minutes. An ambulance was called, and Charlie was taken away while his wife and Peter's 44-year-old mother, Margaret, stayed to watch her son, 20, wed his 19-year-old bride. It was Peter's brother, David, who had to step into the breach in his father's absence to sign his sibling's marriage certificate and deliver his father's speech at the reception. Peter and Sharon Heath are seen with family members outside St Dunstan's Church in Cheam, Surrey, after their wedding during the heatwave in 1976 Peter and Sharon (pictured) married in 32C temperatures during the legendary heatwave 50 years ago Sharon was 19 years old when she married Peter in 1976  He muddled through his off-the-cuff toast as best he could at the Worcester Park venue.  He began by apologising for what happened to his dad, with his mother lovingly nudging him throughout to remind him to thank family members that he had forgotten. Sat in his sun-kissed garden in the midst of Britain's latest heatwave, the now 72-year-old told the Daily Mail there are no pictures of his father at his son's wedding.  Recounting the day, Army veteran David said: 'He fainted, basically. But it was more than that. It was heat stroke, and I think the day overtook him a little bit. You know, "the gravity of my son getting married" overtook him a little bit. 'My dad wasn't one to show his emotions very much; he tended to bottle things up. I think the heat, the occasion, the whole lot was just too much for him, and he just sort of rolled over. 'My mum was a very pragmatic woman. She was a Welsh miner's daughter, and she's a very, very pragmatic woman. She said, 'Let's get through this, and we can deal with it afterwards'. She knew he wasn't gonna die or anything like that.' He added: 'We wanted to get the wedding done, you know. And we're also quite a pragmatic family. We don't go into histrionics.' Miraculously, Charlie would return later, a little bit dazed, after being discharged from Sutton General Hospital. He was helped in by one of his brothers - not the safari suit-wearing sibling - and was shepherded into the corner where some family members 'fluttered around him'. Peter's father Charlie (pictured) collapsed at the wedding due to the heat and had to go to hospital. There are no photos of him at the wedding  Peter (left) is pictured with his brother David at the wedding  'Everyone said to make sure he was all right, but I don't think he was really there,' David said. 'I think that whatever they [the doctors] did, I think they must have drugged him up a bit in the hospital, and they let him out, but I don't think he was really there.' Despite the roasting temperatures and sweating in their suits, Peter and David not once complained about the weather.  He said: 'We were young. We didn't worry about things called weather. I had just come out of the army, and I basically went mad for a few years.  'I just went from one day to the next. You don't really think about the weather, [it] doesn't come into our scope of thinking as youngsters, as it's for the older people to think about that. 'My dad was very, very conventional when it comes to things like weddings, and he had to act a certain way, he had to dress a certain way, you had to do certain things. 'I think having my uncle turn up in a short-sleeved safari suit tipped him over the edge.' David and Peter's late proud father never spoke of what happened for the rest of his life.  And little known to Peter and Saron, just 46 miles away another wedding was on the brink of a heatwave-related disaster.  When Colin and Janet Avery tied the knot at St Andrew's Church in Hornchurch, Essex, the mercury had reached a blistering 35C. The uncomfortable attire wasn't the only drama on the day, with the extreme heat causing a catalogue of catastrophes that threatened to ruin the couple's nuptials. Colin and Janet Avery tied the knot at St Andrew's Church in Hornchurch, Essex, when the mercury had reached a blistering 35C The couple are seen cutting their wedding cake after a series of disasters on the day  The luxury car that had taken Janet to church and the couple had posed happily in front of for their wedding snaps had clapped out after the engine overheated. Colin, with his neatly trimmed moustache and flared trousers, was also feeling the heat in his groom's outfit and began arguing with the photographer 'over the excessive number of exposures he wanted to take'. Janet, too, also appeared to be wavering with the exhaustion etched over her face as she and her new husband cut their wedding cake. Meanwhile, the beer for the reception ran out early as guests guzzled down the liquid. Luckily, they were able to buy more reinforcements from a local off-licence, much to the relief of their thirsty family and guests. Many took refuge in the church's graveyard and the surrounding cooling headstones, leaving the DJ to blast out tunes to an empty hall. But Janet told the Daily Mail the worst was yet to come. 'My then fiancé and his best man had used our new home to dress for the wedding as they had to travel from London earlier,' she said. 'They heated the water for a shower. But unbeknownst to them, the unregulated central heating had been turned on too. 'We returned after our wedding reception to a furnace, which wasn't just caused by the record temperature outside.' But the couple's enduring spirit, as was reminiscent at the time in post-war Britain, didn't allow the calamitous experience to ruin their special day. Both the Averys and Heaths put their dramatic wedding days behind them and will celebrate their Golden wedding anniversaries on June 26, 2026.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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