'Proper' proposal brings final acceptance

It took seven failed attempts and a novel proposal on a public green, but Ann Ambrose finally said 'yes'.

Tom Algie had repeatedly asked his 46-year-old partner to be his wife but she had knocked him back – saying he had never asked her "properly".

So when the shopkeeper donned his best suit and dropped to one knee in front of a crowd on Upper Settle green, there was little doubt about his intentions.

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Mr Algie, 48, chose the opening of an exhibition of wedding photographs from the 1950s and 1960s at Settle's Gallery on the Green – housed in a former BT telephone kiosk – to pop the question.

Mr Algie said: "At Royal Ascot there is always a pink bench somewhere. The idea is that if a lady sits on the bench you can propose to her."

With military planning, he bought a bench, painted it pink and hid it in a garage until the big day when he took it to the green in a shopping trolley.

After changing into his best suit , Mr Algie asked a complete stranger to man his shop and made his way to the green where the exhibition was being opened.

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Under the guise of giving out a community award, he presented his partner of eight years with the bench and asked her to take a seat – before popping the question.

"People say that I don't know the difference between excitement and being terrified and I think that is probably true," said Mr Algie.

"I had asked Ann on a number of occasions to marry me and she had said 'no' about seven times. She thought I had never asked properly.

"The Gallery on the Green was opening an exhibition of old wedding photographs and I started to think, what better time to propose."

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