Leaping at the chance
Last updated 10:59, Saturday, 29 March 2008
Border Television journalist and Mills and Boon novelist Gilly Fraser found the leap year custom came in handy in 2000 when she decided to propose to now husband Malcolm Mason.
The custom states that on February 29 a woman can propose to a man.
Gilly, 50, said: “I had never really wanted to get married and was fully prepared to live my life without ever getting wed, but then I met Malcolm and everything changed.
“He had been married before and he thought I wasn’t the marrying sort – I thought if we were ever going to get married then the proposal would have to come from me.
“I knew about the tradition of women proposing on February 29 and liked the idea, but it was on the spur of the moment that I decided to propose.”
Gilly arranged a bouquet of flowers from Fearon Flowers in Workington to be delivered to Malcolm’s home with a message asking him to marry her.
The next thing she heard was a message on the speaker system at Border announcing that she had proposed to Malcolm and that he had accepted.
She said: “Malcolm had phoned a friend in the newsroom at Border and she had arranged the announcement.”
Gilly didn’t see Malcolm for several days after the proposal and when she did she made him propose back to her.
Gilly said: “I said yes, of course. I didn’t want to miss out on the experience of being proposed to so I told him he had to do it.”
The couple got married in 2001 in Abbeytown.
