Bright spark chef’s recipe for love

BRIGHT spark Ed Johnson proposed to girl friend Laura Madden at in the lighting department at Housing Units.

The lovestruck chef popped the question in the Hollinwood store where Laura (22) works as a sales assistant.

She was due to finish her shift when she saw Ed with a huge bunch of flowers surrounded by members of her family. Before she knew what was happening, Ed got down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage.

Laura, from Hollins, said: “Of course I accepted. He’s not normally romantic but he decided he couldn’t wait until Valentine’s Day. It was a big but very nice shock.

“Once the fuss had died down, we headed off home where he had arranged a huge party — it was a fantastic day.”

The couple met in 2004 when they were both working in a restaurant. Ed now works in the catering department at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Ed, from Chadderton, said: “I’d been thinking about it for some time, but about a week beforehand I thought ‘now’s the time’, so I sorted everything out as fast as I could and arranged a plan with Laura’s Housing Units colleagues.

“I don’t know what was brighter, the combined bulbs in the lighting department or Laura’s smile.”

Nick Fox, director of Housing Units, said: “We pride ourselves in being a family business with a family approach and the enthusiasm with which the team got involved and helped make a couple’s dreams come true is typical of the way we consider the business to be one big family.

“We wish Laura and Ed all the very best.”