On the morning of Friday 16th June 2023 the residents and staff at Ty Gwyn care home in Penarth had a surprise visit from Eric the Alpaca with his handler Steve who had come to visit us from a local Alpaca trekking farm.

The residents all got their sun hats and sunscreen on and gathered out in the front garden to await Erics arrival. There was lots of chatter amongst the staff and residents about what he would feel like and how big he would be.

Eric and Steve soon made their appearance with everyone smitten with how gorgeous Eric looked. Steve quickly set up a small holding pen for Eric and the residents eagerly formed a line to come and meet Eric as well as having a stroke. Steve went onto tell us that Eric is 12 years old and lives with 19 other Alpaca on the farm.

Everyone was amazed at how soft Eric was and we even attracted the attention of some members of the public passing by who came into the front garden to have a closer look. We even noticed that as the buses were passing by the home people were pointing and smiling as well.

Resident Yvonne Beaton said, "it is amazing how soft Eric is, when you see them on the TV you imagine their coats to be quite coarse due to the weather conditions, he is so docile and handsome though."

Once everyone who was able to come into the garden to meet Eric had finished stroking and admiring him, we took Eric into the home to meet the residents who couldn't join us in the garden. They thoroughly enjoyed meeting Eric as well and were amazed how he ascended the stairs in the home with ease.

Neil Chadwick the Community Co-ordinator based in Ty Gwyn said "I loved planning this surprise for the staff and residents, and to see the enjoyment on their faces really makes planning things like this worth while, it really lives up to the ethos of Living Later Life Well which we endeavour to promote here in Ty Gwyn. I am always looking for and planning things out of the ordinary for our residents and staff to get involved with. I cannot wait to plan our next event / surprise.

About MHA

As a national charity, we enable people to live later life well. Through 90 specialist care homes, 70 thriving retirement living and 62 vibrant community groups and befriending, we inspire the best care and wellbeing at every stage of later life. With over 75 years' experience we put people at the heart of everything we do in all our homes and schemes across Britain. All our donations and any surplus we generate is invested into the services we provide for our 19,600 residents and members. We have over 7,500 dedicated colleagues, supported by over 4,250 generous volunteers.