For months, I’ve been preparing for the annual, national celebration that is Marriage Week. At the early stages of planning for 2020, I was considering what the theme should be this year, having development meetings with the many excellent organisations who partner with the campaign, smaller team meetings, and countless conversations with my husband too! However, what I couldn’t have predicted was a Marriage Week in lockdown.
I was asked by some whether Marriage Week would still be possible. A reasonable question since in previous years we’ve held conferences and Westminster Hall debates on marriage and family, churches and organisations have put on events for couples and families within their local community as well as interview opportunities on the Radio (occasionally on the TV too) for the Marriage Week team, partner organisations and ambassadors.
But of course, since Marriage Week became established on social media (only a few years ago) – with a particular boost for our campaign last year – ‘Recipe for a Healthy Marriage’ – the campaign can and has still gone ahead. And perhaps, this year, reflecting on your relationship and investing in your marriage is more poignant than ever as we spend 24/7 with our partners. The good news is, that despite the deluge of coverage on the Covid-19 crisis, the media have still chosen to cover Marriage Week, with radio interviews, articles in the press and in magazines as well as blogs and resources across other supportive relationship focused websites. The release of Harry Benson’s book, ‘Commit or Quit: The Two Year Rule and Other Rules for Romance’ along with his latest research tied in with the book has generated a great deal of interest and several interview opportunities too.
Without doubt, we have, (like the rest of the country), had to adapt to lockdown and the impact that this is having on how we do things. Amongst other things, for Marriage Week, this has meant the delivery of our first ever, online launch of the campaign. It was a very different sort of launch, more informal, shorter, no prestigious venue (just my home!), no guest speakers, no ambassadors, and of course, this year, there was no limit on the number of guests! So, on Monday the 11th of May, I released a video launch for ‘The Forever Conversation’. The beauty of this online version is that it can be viewed by anyone at any time and so the number of attendees has been rising since the release of the video on YouTube yesterday.
If you’ve not had an opportunity to ‘attend’ the launch, then consider this as your personal invitation! And it’s the type of ‘event’ in which you can invite as many of your friends too, without fear of overcrowding! So please, do come, you’re very welcome to be part of ‘The Forever Conversation’ by viewing the video here:
