A MARRIAGE proposal is an historic event in anyone's life, but a Richmond man made sure popping the question became part of the local heritage - for a couple of hours at least.

Chris Moss made a replica of the heritage plaques seen around the town, with wording to indicate that, on February 2 he had proposed to his girlfriend, Elizabeth Tennant, and she had accepted.

He blue-tacked the wooden and cardboard plaque to a wall on Castle Walk, near his home in Castle Hill, and invited Miss Tennant out, in pouring rain, on the pretext of watching the Swale in spate.

When she saw the plaque she said yes immediately and the couple are now planning an October wedding, after which 27-year-old Miss Tennant will move from her home in Bristol to Richmond.

"I needed a bit of a prop to help me over the nerves of proposing," said Mr Moss, aged 36, an art teacher at Richmond School. "I made the plaque out of wood, cardboard and silver paint by copying the ones which mark historic places around Richmond."

Unfortunately, the civic society initially failed to join in the romance of the occasion after the fake plaque, which was in place for about two hours, was reported to members. But, following a chat with Mr Moss, there were no bad feelings.

"I thought no-one would notice the plaque, but there were two tour groups going round Richmond that morning and it was reported to the civic society," said Mr Moss. "It was brought up at a meeting and someone from the council came round, too. But they were all fine about it in the end."