51Âþ»­

A couple who found love while studying at 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) have won a romantic trip to Paris.

To mark Valentine’s Day, 51Âþ»­’s Alumni Relations department asked graduates to share their stories about how they found true love on campus.

Katie Sone was awarded the first prize of a weekend in the city of romance after revealing how she met her husband Nick during a night out at the students’ union in 1997.

2017 marked 20 years together and ten years of marriage.

Katie, nee Tatterton, revealed how she was in her second year studying Arts and Humanities when she and her best friend Vicky decided to go to The Big Cheese – a student night of 80s and 90s cheesy music – having recently pledged to remain single for a year following some ‘disastrous attempts’ at relationships.

After a couple of drinks they found they had run out of cash so they thought they would chat to some fellas to see if they would buy them a drink.

Katie said: “We turned to the guy stood next to us and started to chat. As we (Katie and Vicky) looked similar - similar height and hair colour - we pretended we were sisters and asked would he buy us a drink.

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“He didn’t believe us but bought us a drink to share (a vanilla hooch I think!). Vicky turned around to talk to the guy next to her and I carried on talking to the guy in front of me. I never did stop talking with him.

“His name was Nick and he was studying Business and Finance. I didn’t know then that 10 years later we would get married, and have a little girl called Poppy (now aged eight) and in 2017 would celebrate ten years of marriage and 20 years together.

“As for Vicky, she ended up marrying the guy she had started talking to, they have two children and they’ve been married since 2003. So much for being single for a year… thanks very much 51Âþ»­ and the big cheese!”

On hearing she had won first prize, Katie said: “It is just lovely to win a trip to Paris. We met at 51Âþ»­, made a life together in Leicester and it is so nice to celebrate 20 years together with this prize.”

51Âþ»­ Alumni Relations also awarded two runners-up prizes of a romantic meal for two in Leicester.

Eleanor Carnegie was awarded one of the runner-up prizes after revealing how she met her husband Philip in her final year studying for a BA (Hons) in Business Studies at 51Âþ»­ – the same place her Dad had studied.

She said: “Our first proper conversation was over a printer in one of the Business School IT suites as I printed off my finished assignment and Phil was printing notes off to start the same assignment.

“Over time our brief conversations got longer and our relationship grew and before we knew it we were officially a couple.

“12 months after our graduation Phil took me back to 51Âþ»­ for a walk down memory lane and a meal in our favourite restaurant.  However, as Phil had forgotten to book a table and they were full, we resorted to returning to our favourite student take away.  It was during this trip back to Leicester that Phil proposed to me.

“Phil and I have now been married for almost 13 years and have two beautiful children. Without 51Âþ»­ we would have never have met.  51Âþ»­ holds a special place in our hearts and following the sudden passing of my Dad last year we took our children back to Leicester to show them where their mum and dad met and their grandad used to study.”

The second runner-up prize has gone to Victoria Bayes who met her partner Stephen Burrell in Freshers’ Week 2013.

She said: “We first met at the 02 academy through a mutual friend during Fresher’s Week. We were introduced as we were leaving, and the rest was history!

“We continued to bump into each other throughout Freshers’ Week and during the infamous Wednesday nights at the SU. It was all a bit of a cliché, the fact I was in the netball team and he was from the rugby team, but we clicked and within a couple of months, we were dating.

“University wasn’t just a place where we studied, we’ve met friends for life and have luckily both fallen deeply in love. The university has given us endless confidence and opportunities, enabling us to pursue our dream careers.”