Today's date, February 29, only comes every four years, and of course, traditionally it's the only day when women can propose marriage to their man. Here, Chris Titley meets a married York couple who celebrate the second annivesary of their engagement today.

Up until that point it had been a normal day for Richard Fletcher. As he pottered around, filling the kettle for an evening cup of coffee, he had no idea that he was about to star in a kitchen sink drama.

His first inkling that anything was afoot came when partner Bernadette entered the room carrying flowers and a piece of paper.

"He was standing at the kitchen sink," she recalled. "I went down on one knee and read out this poem asking him to marry me.

"I can remember him saying, 'get up, get up, yes of course!'"

Richard's reaction was characteristic. "In my usual way I was dumbstruck.

"This sort of thing is something I have come to expect from Bernadette because she's very spontaneous."

True to form, Bernadette, who co-runs a day centre for adults with learning difficulties at the Tang Hall Community Centre, had only thought up the scheme a few days earlier.

"It had literally been something said on the radio: 'Well, ladies, this is leap year - you can propose to your loved one'.

"We had lived together by that time for a year or so, and we both realised that we would stay together.

"I just thought I will do it. I got a posy of flowers made up, and wrote the poem."

That was on February 29, 1992. Richard booked them into York Register Office and they were married in May.

"It was about the lowest-key marriage you could have," said Richard, who works at The Retreat, Heslington Road.

His wife added: "There was no new dress, the ring was Victorian second-hand, just our parents and our children were there.

"We went shopping to Sainsbury's in the afternoon and met my sister there. She said, 'weren't you getting married today?' We said, 'we've done that'."

Their reception was tea, coffee and sandwiches for 14 at The Grange Hotel, Clifton.

The bill came to £52.

The couple, who live in Tang Hall, met when Richard, a student psychiatric nurse, was on placement at Huntington Road Day Centre and Bernadette was his mentor.

The relationship was purely professional until the placement ended. Their first date was spent by the ears of the White Horse, at Kilburn, where they drank wine and listened to classical music. It was a case of opposites attracting. Both the bubbly optimist Bernadette, now 42, and the thoughtful, pessimistic Richard, 55, had been married before, but have no regrets about tying the knot again.

The tradition of the woman proposing to the man dates back to medieval times when February 29 had no recognition in English law and was considered a date when normal social and cultural niceties could be forgotten.

If any woman is thinking of taking advantage today, Bernadette's advice is: "Go for it. But don't be put off by this big wedding thing."

Men on the receiving end of a marriage proposal should be flattered, said Richard. "It's a hell of a compliment. If the relationship's right, go ahead."

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