Residents at a brand-new Care UK care home got a flipping good surprise when two penguins waddled in for a visit.

The team at Mountbatten Grange care home in Windsor, which opened to residents just before Christmas, organised the visit as part of Care UK’s wishing tree initiative to surprise Annie Thelwell, a 92-year-old resident, whose wish was to feed a real penguin.

A lifelong animal lover, Annie always wears a penguin-shaped pendant and has filled her memory box with photos of the friendly animals. Annie, one of the first residents in the new Windsor care home, had made a wish on the home’s wishing tree to see penguins, but wasn’t expecting to be able to meet them up quite so close.

Many Care UK care home teams arrange visits from other animals, including dogs, alpacas, donkeys, goats and lizards, but this is the first time in the provider’s 30-year history that penguins been on the visitor list.

The team at the home is led by Saad Baig – who, as home manager at another site, made the headlines by arranging for a Catholic priest to visit the pope and for a lady in her 80s to have her first driving lesson.

The hand-reared Humboldt penguins, named Pringle and Charlie, were brought into the home by a company called Amazing Animals which provides animals for things like film work. The penguins were friendly, relaxed and used to human contact. Both were happy to walk around the home and took the lift in their stride. One even settled down for a nap after enjoying a hearty lunch of fresh fish from the residents at the home.

When not out ‘working’ Charlie and Pringle live in a specially-constructed enclosure, including a swimming pool, pebbled beach and penguin house at Heythrop Zoo and live together in a breeding group to ensure regular social interactions.

Home manager Saad Baig said: “Annie talks about penguins with a passion, so we were really excited to be able to make her dream of seeing one up close come true.

“We managed to keep the visit a complete surprise, so it was incredible to see her face light up when they waddled into the care home – they are truly wonderful creatures and it was a fantastic moment for everyone involved.”

www.careuk.com/mountbatten-grange