Birmingham Story

Last October I received the following email,       

      Dear Sir/Madam,

      November 29th is my partner’s birthday and I have secretly arranged a weekend in Cork to celebrate.

      I also intend to propose to her on that day and have been looking for romantic settings in Cork in which to do so.

      As soon as I saw the website of the Bells of Shandon I knew it would be a fabulous place to declare my love to Beth.  Imagine my delight to see two stories detailing just that!!

      Would it be possible to arrange for us to have 15mins alone at the top of the Tower on 29th November at midday?

      Thank you so much!

      Chris

Well, what would you do? We are all romantics here at Shandon and we quickly put a plan into action and all we needed now was the permission of Chris to put the story on our website. By return email we had the permission and now all we had to do was gather the facts of the story.

A Birmingham story. 

      Beth, Andy and myself were all born and schooled here in Brum.
Andy went to Bristol university to study Philosophy and Mathematics - he's now a lawyer in Birmingham.  Beth went to the University of East Anglia and got a BA in Media Studies, she is now a police officer in Birmingham city centre.  I went to Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College to do Film and Media Studies, then between 2003 - 2006 Beth supported me through a career change and I completed a Diploma in Nursing at Birmingham City University.  Now I work in a hospital in the heart of Birmingham as a psychiatric nurse.  The three of us are best friends, having shared so much over the years and I have asked Andy to be my Best Man, as long as Beth says yes that is!

Chris says; Beth and I have been friends since we were 15 years old. My first memory of her was at my best friend Andy's (more about him
later) house. When she entered the room I was instantly smitten by this vision of loveliness I saw in front of me:  such a beautiful face, such long, flowing golden locks and such a fun-loving and sweet natured personality.  Over the next few years my feelings grew deeper and deeper, however, despite my best efforts, she remained elusive before we eventually went our separate ways to university.

We saw each other infrequently during our university days, yet my desire burnt just as fiercely whenever I thought about her, which was a lot - she was the one for me and I could wait.

I remained best friends with Andy (and he with Beth) and in 2001 he told me that Beth was coming back to Birmingham, having been travelling in India for the past six months.  We arranged to meet up and I must confess that Andy didn't get a look in!  Beth and I could not take our eyes off each other and we hastily arranged a date for just the two of us.

That was the beginning of something special for Beth and I.  We were already friends, so there were no surprises to uncover and it wasn't long before we declared our love to each other and moved in together.  Pets soon followed as we began to build our home together and in March 2007 Beth gave birth to our son Elliot.

      Now, Beth is pregnant again (due in May '09) and it is her birthday soon.  She is aware that I have arranged a weekend away for her (Elliot is with grandparents) but has no idea where.  She equally has no idea that I intend to use this opportunity to ask her to marry me. Beth won my heart many years ago and I want to show her how much I love her.
I can't imagine what her response will be - I hope a resounding yes!

About to propose

In addition to the weekend away I have made Beth a personalised voucher book which she can "exchange" for a romantic, dinner, back rub, free babysitter etc.  My intention is that when we are alone at the top of the Tower  Bells I will "remember" that I have another voucher in my wallet which is for One Shiny Ring.  Whilst she is momentarily confused I will bend on one knee and ask her to marry me!

A definite Yes

Beth and myself have spoken many times about visiting Ireland.
We both love looking at old buildings, taking walks along rivers and looking at breathtaking scenery and I have been reliably informed that Cork is one of the most beautiful and friendly cities in the world.  I wanted to do something different and special for Beth, which is why I have arranged for the vouchers, the weekend has been planned in detail to take in some shopping, see some historical buildings, walk along the River Lee and eat in some fabulous sounding restaurants.  We don't get many opportunities for breaks, with us both working full-time and having a small boy to look after so I thought it was a great chance to ask Beth something I've wanted to ask for a while without raising her suspicions.

I had heard that the Bells of Shandon were worth a visit and, like I said, when I saw the photographs I knew that the stunning views would be a perfect background and we could ring the bells after to mark our occasion.