General Chat

ANTHONY CARROLL
05 January 2010 06:54



Going to her first ever pantomime provided the fairytale ending for Kayleigh Bishop after her boyfriend proposed to her in front of hundreds of people on Sunday afternoon.

A nervous Ross Brown turned out to be his very own prince charming when he asked his partner of five years to marry him before the final performance of Cinderella at Lowestoft's Marina Theatre.

And now thanks to the help of Buttons the Great Yarmouth couple are beginning to plan their wedding which could be held before the end of the year.

Actor and children television presenter Dave Benson Phillips invited Mr Brown on stage to ask his girlfriend for her hand in marriage and much to the audience's delight she accepted his offer.

Ross, who is a mobile phone shop manager, thought up the unusual proposal so that his partner would always remember his declaration of love - the first of its kind for the theatre.

He also choose Cinderella as he enjoys pantomimes from when he was an amateur actor and panto dame for the Hemsby Harlequins.

However the 26-year-old admitted that as they drove to the Marina Theatre he began to feel very nervous.

He said: “I was shaking a bit. I told Kayleigh I had a cold to explain my nerves.

“I chose to ask Kayleigh to marry me during Cinderella as it is such a romantic story.”

Mr Brown and Miss Bishop met through a friend in Martham and the couple have a year-old daughter Tiarna who they hope to take to the theatre's next pantomime.

Miss Bishop, 22, said: “I was a bit embarrassed when we went up on stage because everyone was staring at us. But I think it was a lovely way to propose - I will never forget my first pantomime.

“All our family think we are a bit crazy to get engaged at a pantomime but I think it was wonderful way to do it.”

The proposal came at the end of the record breaking four week run of Cinderella, which starred former Neighbours and Emmerdale actress Anne Charleston as the Fairy Godmother.

Mr Benson Phillips, who has been in show business for more than 25 years, said: “In all my years I have been performing I have never been asked to do this. I am delighted it went the right way.”





Another happy ending!

Lizx

Another heartwarming story

I wonder how he would have felt had she said NO?
It has happened.
OKAY.... I'm a miserable *&^%$&.... ;-0)
Deanna X

Deanna, that would have been awful but I am sure he was pretty confident, with them living together and having a small daughter already.
I hope they will have a fairy tale wedding and a long and happy life together. Martham isn't far from here and we used to go to this theatre often as they had better acts than our local theatre, but it's such a drive home afterwards, 30 miles of dark twisty roads some of it and guess who had to drive cos of o.h.'s night blindness.

Lizx

Oh I hope so too Liz.
But I would have killed Allan stone dead had he made a *Gazabo* of me! ;-0(
Deanna X

That is one of Allan's mothers sayings!