A big screen proposal
WHEN Hinckley mum Claire O’Grady settled down to watch a film with her best friend at Cineworld in The Crescent, the last person she expected to see on screen was her boyfriend.
But as the lights dimmed, the screen lit up with a film featuring her very own hearthrob, Dougie Hird.
Billed as The Man Who Ran, the professionally-shot minimovie showed the 34-year-old father-oftwo running across barren countryside and deserted lanes before arriving at the cinema - where he then appeared in person to pop the question, hoping his 32-year-old sweetheart would become his wife.
As she said “I will”, the rest of the people in the auditorium burst into applause - and revealed themselves as her family and closest friends, along with Cineworld staff who had posed as extra movie-goers to keep up the ruse.
Former Heathfield High School and William Bradford Community College student Claire, orginally from Barwell, had thought she was going to watch the JK Rowling romp Fantastic Beasts. She said: “When the trailer started I forgot there was anyone else there. I was that much in shock. “Then everything started to piece together. “I started to cry. It meant so much. “I was properly shaking. “When he came in and proposed, when everyone was cheering and clapping, it was amazing.” She later found out that her 11-year-old daughter Skye had known about the plan from the start and that Dougie’s children Josh, seven, and Amber, five, had also been told.
The couple had moved in together six months after meeting through an online dating site.
Dougie, from Southend, who has performed under the stage name Dougie Sambora, said: “The last year and a half has completely changed my life.
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been and I wanted to show her.”
He said he “called in a few favours” including the cinematographic expertise of Kirby Muxloe-based film-maker Elliott Richards whose Dirty Diamond Productions were responsible for the life-changing trailer.
Cineworld operations manager James Harris, who helped to co-ordinate the larger-than-life proposal, said: “When Dougie approached us we were more than happy to help.
“The main challenge was setting it up so that Claire had no idea what was about to happen.”