Patrick Donovan, from Wexford, met Stephen Jacques, from Sheffield, when they were both on a weekend holiday in Blackpool in 2003. It was one of those strangers-across-acrowded-room moments in a gay haunt called The Flying Handbag.
“We were with our own groups, and we kept smiling over at each other,” says Steve. “I hadn’t the courage to speak to him, and he didn’t come speak to me, and then noticed he was leaving. was like, ‘Oh my God, this is a missed opportunity’.”