Dear Fellow RA Fans,
This afternoon an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 6.2 struck the lower half of New Zealand's North Island. It was widely felt in Wellington and sadly one of the Hobbit eagles at the airport fell from the ceiling. Despite this, I was delighted to receive a guest post for the RAFlash Fan Event from Deanna Cornwell who is a resident of Wellington. I am so incredibly grateful to her, and also to Kate Malone for sharing their story and photos from June 3rd 2013. YOU LADIES ARE THE BEST xx!!!
This is from Deanna. Hope you enjoy her story as much as I did
"I saw something fine on the 3rd June 2013...well actually myself and friend Kate Malone did, and oh how mighty fine it was!!!
We had decided to park the car up and walk down Stone Street, where the filming studios for The Hobbit are. Maybe we thought, we might be able to nab a couple of photos of any activity going on. As we got nearer to the gate, we spotted this bearded guy in a leather jacket walking towards one of the parked cars...hang on a minute...we both looked at each other, same thought in our heads, "It can't be"..."Richard?" I called out...and HE turned around!!!! OMG, IT WAS HIM, IT WAS RICHARD ARMITAGE IN THE FLESH!!! We calmly held it together and I asked if we could have a photo with him. "Yes of course" he replied. He threw his bag in the car, and then started to walk towards us. Not wanting him to get run over by a car, we ran across the road towards him (neither of us checked to see if a car was coming, little things like that don't matter when a certain dwarf is across the road). Everything you have ever read about this gentleman and his openness towards his fans is true. He happily posed with both of us, and when we apologised for stopping him on his way out of work, he smiled saying "Not a problem". As we thanked him and turned to go, he smiled again (lord the knees managed to hold up) and said "Have a lovely day ladies". Oh my, did he not know he had just made it the best day EVER!!! We walked away, huge smiles on our faces and as soon as he had driven out of sight, we had our fangirl meltdown moment.
So I say to you dear Armitage fans, NEVER give up on the dream of meeting this man, you never know when it will happen!"
A thousand thank yous ladies for sharing this great RA encounter. You certainly did see "Someone Fine"!!!
Side note:
Kate, Deanna and I met in 2012 on the Red Carpet Premiere Tour. A close bond was formed between us when we sat in Courtney Place beside the red carpet from 2.00 in the morning, waiting together with our group of fans for 15 + hours to see the stars of The Hobbit, and in my case, to see Richard Armitage. Sadly Richard did not, or could not, stop for us, as he had to be interviewed by the press contingent and then race on to the stage in front of the Embassy Theatre. I'm therefore still waiting for that elusive photo and autograph. The upside however was that I made some wonderful friends sitting by that red carpet and we therefore returned last year for the 'Desolation of Smaug' midnight screening and Red Carpet Tours Party to meet up with Deanna, Kate, and many other friends again. This time we were privileged to meet the amazing Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Stephen Hunter, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kircher, Daniel Reeve (Artist for LOTR & The Hobbit) and Daniel Falconer (Weta Designer).
We will look forward to catching up with friends again in Wellington this year for 'There and Back Again' (...with a box of tissues) !!!!!!