Mary Reid

How Ed got down on one knee to propose to Russell

By | Mon 29th July 2013 - 10:52 am

fordham and eaglingLast week Lib Dem Voice reported the engagement of Ed Fordham and Russell Eagling, long time Lib Dem activists, which was the first same sex engagement to be announced in the Births, Marriages and Deaths column of The Times. This fact had been mentioned by Julian Huppert during the final Commons debate  on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, to an amusing put-down by the Speaker.

The Independent followed this up on Friday with a delightful full page article (with a beautiful photo) about the couple under the heading: Gay marriage first: How Ed got down on one knee to propose to Russell… and made a little piece of history.

“I knew when it was passed by the Lords that the final hurdle had been overcome and would become law,” Ed told The Independent.

“I had two rings in my pockets: my great-grandfather’s wedding ring which was rather small and my father’s 21st birthday present which was rather larger. I was just hoping one of them would fit.

“I was there thinking I’ve got to get this right. I’m not doing it for show. And then the choir that were there started singing an Erasure track and I thought ‘right’ – and went down on one knee and bingo I was there.”

Russell said he had no idea what was about to happen. “It was a complete surprise – if anything can be a complete surprise if you’ve been together for 15 years – but I honestly had no inkling it was coming.”

Once again, congratulations to Ed and Russell.

* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.

Read more by or more about , or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Nonconformistradical
    I second Henry's comments about Barrow - this south-eastener has at least, albeit not recently, set foot in the Barrow constituency (visiting friends who lived ...
  • Henry
    I do get very annoyed by the comments on these by-election posts. The over-exaggeration of our comeback because we won last week and then complain when we finis...
  • Daniel Walker
    @David Raw I am afraid I don't know that; however I am always wary of arguments that say we should have the cheapest possible democracy. (Which isn't to say ...
  • Daniel Walker
    @Kira I was at the debate where that policy was decided. There were two other options: one was the regions of England having the same powers as Scotland and ...
  • David Raw
    @ Daniel Walker Has the party costed the amount for changing to the arrangement you describe, Daniel, and what amount does it come to ? For my part I wo...