To celebrate the arrival of UK National Marriage Week, we held a special event at the House of Lords today. The beautiful room gave a great sense of occasion as we reflected on the theme for this year, ‘Recipe for a Healthy Marriage’. We were thrilled that so many of our partners, journalists and supporters were able to attend and there was a tangible buzz of excitement amongst our guests. We heard from Sir Paul Coleridge, chairman and founder of Marriage Foundation and as the national coordinator of Marriage Week, I had the pleasure of delivering a presentation about the six ‘healthy-marriage ingredients’ – commitment, kindness, communication, intimacy, friendship and forgiveness. If you’ve not already discovered them on the website, do take a look at the excellent content on each one provided by the Marriage Week partners.
All those who attended were particularly impressed by the couples who feature on the short videos that we have produced for Marriage Week (also available on the website), each covering a relationship ingredient with such openness and honesty. Their stories impacted all as they talked about the realities of marriage – the highs and the lows and how their marriage has been enriched and strengthened by these life experiences.
Marriage Foundation’s research director, Harry Benson launched some exciting new, food-related research which looked at the number of couples eating together and the impact this has on the enjoyment of the experience. What was clear is that ‘…couples who make the effort to eat together – especially without being distracted by a phone – are overall happier and enjoy their meal more as a result’. You can read the full report here.
For the first time this year, the UK National Marriage Week had three incredible ambassadors, Anna Williamson, Emma Waring and the Urban Rajah. I was delighted to be able to interview them about why they’ve agreed to be ambassadors for us and they each spoke about the key ingredients in their own marriage. You can find out more about them our Ambassador page.
The UK National Marriage Week is a hugely valuable campaign for so many reasons. It’s good for couples, it’s good for their children and it’s good for society as a whole. The commitment of those involved this year and the enthusiasm that was shown by all those present today made the launch event of ‘Recipe for a Healthy Marriage’ a truly momentous occasion!