A GIANT penguin helped unveil a surprise Valentine’s Day marriage proposal in a box at a Poole cafe and play area on Saturday.

The Ark in Poole Park’s duty manager, Hayley House, held bright red heart-shaped balloons and sprung out of a gift-wrapped cardboard box in front of a banner which read ‘Jerry, will you marry me?’

Fortunately, her now fiancé was only too keen to accept the proposal and customers and their children cheered as Tux, the Ark’s mascot, congratulated them.

The couple, who have been together for 13 years and are parents to Thomas, 23, Jordan, 20, Haydn,17, Joshua, 10, and Evie, eight, were planning to celebrate the good news with a meal for two in the evening.

Hayley said: “We met in the Viking Club on Poole Quay. He lived in London at the time, so we became friends, and then a few months later he asked me out for a drink and things were just different.

“Jerry is very kind and he has a heart of gold. I have been so vocal about not getting married, as I have been married before, and he’s also taken on that stance.

“Then I heard our two youngest, Joshua and Evie, say ‘So you’re not our real mum and dad then?’ when they found out that we weren’t married and so I had a change of heart.

“I thought what better day to propose than Valentine’s Day?

“Trying to keep it secret was very difficult and he was so shocked when he saw me, the banner and all the balloons, but at least I got the right result.”

Her fiancé, Jerry, said: “We come here most Saturdays to have breakfast. I saw the big box in the office and thought that it might be full of balloons but I had no idea that it was for me or that Hayley would be inside. I was very shocked.”