WHEN it comes to spectacular marriage proposals, Roseworthy farmer Ben Kemp’s is hard to beat.
After spending the past week battling and cleaning up after the horrific Pinery fire, Ben brought some joy to the community by popping the question to his girlfriend Jadine Mold on Tuesday.
Instead of simply getting down on bended knee, he took to the skies to make his grand gesture.
Passing above the property in a helicopter, Jadine was left stunned as the words ‘Will you marry me?’ – scripted using more than 100 round hay bales – came into view, and quickly accepted his proposal.
Ben had planned his helicopter and hay proposal before the fire hit, and was determined the disaster would not put a dampener on his romantic plans.
“I always wanted to do something special. After the events of the previous week, we were lucky enough to have a few hundred bales spared, so I thought it was one way to try and lighten the mood a bit and have some good news after a crazy week,” Ben said.
He began arranging the bales early on Tuesday morning, but wild weather almost spoilt the party.
“The weather wasn’t very kind to me on Tuesday – it was windy as anything,” he said.
“I’d spent a lot of time setting it all up, and with the fires and everything going on, there were a lot of helicopters flying about, and I thought that, knowing my luck, if it doesn’t go ahead and I leave these bales out there someone will see it, and my cover will be blown.
“But it all worked out perfectly in the end and I got the answer I was hoping for.
“Ever since I’ve been copping it from my mates for setting the bar too high. They’re all wondering how they’re going to follow it one day.
“I thought the events of last week needed something pretty spectacular, so I hoped I achieved that.”
