Ginger sends fans rockin' up the aisle

Ginger Wildheart proved once again he always has time for his fans after Edinburgh tattoo artist Maxwell Hewat asked for help in proposing to his girlfriend at Download.

The 36-year-old tattoo artist popped the question to Gillian Docking, 33, at the TeamRock’s Download FM compound – seven years after the pair met at the festival.

Gillian, a big fan of Ginger’s work, was under the impression that Maxwell had simply arranged for her to meet him. She said: “Ginger was so nice, and he started off telling us that he knew we’d met here years ago. Then he said, ‘I believe this gentleman has something he wants to ask you.’”

Maxwell then revealed the engagement ring he’d been hiding all weekend, and asked the big question. When Gillian said yes, the gathered crowd let out a loud cheer. She admits: “I’m in shock – I really didn’t know it was happening.”

Maxwell added: “I met Gillian on the hill in 2007. It’s cheesy, but the crowd kind of parted for us and I saw her. We’re both huge Wildhearts fans. I actually tattooed Ginger in Edinburgh 10 years ago, which he remembered. We’re definitely going to celebrate tonight. I think Gillian needs a drink after that.”

Ginger played Download twice this weekend, once with the Wildhearts and once as a solo acoustic artist. He earlier told TeamRock Radio he was still astonished when his childhood heroes recognise him backstage.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.