A shared appreciation for early nineties alternative rock band 鈥楴ed鈥檚 Atomic Dustbin鈥� first brought Karl and Debbie Hoods together. Debbie was hosting a house party at the start of their second year when Karl arrived wearing one of the band鈥檚 t-shirts. Debbie said: 鈥淚 went straight over to him and said 鈥業鈥檝e got that t-shirt鈥� and we hit it off from there.鈥�
After a few nights out with friends, ice skating, going to the cinema and taking part in pub quizzes, Debbie recalls that they officially started going out 22 days after that first meeting and have been together ever since. Karl proposed after a meal out to celebrate Debbie鈥檚 21st birthday, they married in 1997 and now have two teenage children.
When asked whether it was love at first sight, Debbie says: 鈥淎lmost. We had so much in common and a shared love of music which was difficult to ignore.鈥�
The couple鈥檚 favourite Bournemouth landmarks included The Hothouse, which used to be on Holdenhurst Road. Debbie said: 鈥淲e had so many good nights out there with friends and it will always hold a special place in our hearts. Our friends even tried to get the sign from the club when it closed down as a wedding present for us, but sadly it didn鈥檛 happen.鈥�