Romantic Sam jets to Ireland to get his girl
AHOPELESS romantic flew from Macclesfield to Belfast to find a girl he knew only as Cat from Dundonald.
Sam Hibbert and Cat McKernan met in Manchester when Cat visited the city on a trip from Northern Ireland.
In spite of the obvious attraction between them, neither Cat nor Sam swapped phone numbers – or even surnames.
Instead, Cat, 30, grabbed Sam’s phone, searched for a map of Northern Ireland and placed a dot on where she said they could meet – Dundonald Ice Bowl.
Sam arrived on a morning flight into Belfast then got a taxi to the Ice Bowl.
He said: “I knew I’d see Cat again. I stopped on the way at a florist to buy a bouquet for her and then got a taxi over to our intended meeting point. And I wasn’t even disappointed to see she wasn’t there.
“I asked the girl on reception to take a photo of me and put my story up on Facebook. Then Belfast Live got in touch and within minutes Cat was on her way to meet me.”
So Sam, 22, upheld his part of the bargain and within an hour of his arrival Cat’s friend at work has spotted the Facebook post and arranged for the civil servant to take the afternoon off.
Cat said: “At 1.30pm I’d said to my friend that I imagined that lad from Manchester would be sitting in Dundonald but, to be honest, I didn’t think it would happen.
“Then this massive whoop went up and my friend had seen the post on Facebook.
“I’m still in shock to be honest and delighted to see Sam. It’s a bit mad but it’s great fun. How many women can say this has happened in their life?
“I think it’s romantic but I’ve only just learned he’s a Manchester United supporter and I support Liverpool. That may be a hurdle we’ll have to get over.”
The pair, who first met in the Birdcage nightclub in Manchester, enjoyed a game of bowling in Dundonald and a meal before Sam, a vehicle wrapper, had to leave for home.
He said: “Now we’ve just got to work out where we want to go from here.
“Cat is a beautiful woman and I’m the happiest man who ever went clubbing.”
‘I asked the girl on reception to take a photo of me and put my story up on Facebook’