How a random text message ended happily ever after

When Donovan Shears sent a text message to a random number in 1998, it changed the course of his life.

He was given his first mobile phone for his 18th birthday and had just discovered text messaging.

He made up a random number and sent a message saying “Hello”, to which his future wife Kirsty replied “Hi”.

He said: “That single moment led to more than 20 years of love, laughter and partnership.”

Of the many messages from unknown numbers he sent from the Coventry pub where he was working that night, Kirsty in Cleethorpes was the only one to respond.

In 2002, the couple married in Scotland, where Kirsty is from, and now have two children, aged six and nine.

Kirsty said she responded to Donovan’s message thinking it was someone she knew, but whose number she did not have saved in her phone.

Speaking to BBC CWR, they recalled how they first met at Coventry railway station and went for their first date at the Colosseum.

Donovan said: “I started sending random text messages to my friends showing it off.

“I picked the first four digits as mine, then the last three digits randomly – it was probably about five or six different numbers – and then thought nothing of it.”

Kirsty said: “We would text through the day and then obviously it would become more and more often and then at one point we decided we should call each other.

“We started speaking on the phone as well as (texting) during the day and then finally it came to August Bank Holiday 1998.

“I told my stepbrother, I’ve got to go and meet this guy, and he was like ‘He could be anyone,’ and I was like ‘Yeah, I know,’ but I’m 18. year and didn’t really think about the consequences.

“I just got on a train and came to Coventry.”

More than 20 years on from their big day, the pair will attend a major renewal of vows at Coventry Cathedral on Valentine’s Day, hosted by BBC CWR.