WORKING the night shift on New Year’s Eve was business as usual for one care assistant – until her boyfriend made a surprise visit to pop the question at midnight.

The staff at Shaw Health Care’s Ledbury Nursing Home had bucks fizz at the ready for the happy Malvern couple once Helen Jenkins had said yes to nervous Andy Young, who had all her work colleagues in on the secret proposal.

Miss Jenkins, aged 30, said she had no idea her partner was planning to ask her to marry him, despite marking their fifth anniversary together last September.

She said: “It was a complete surprise – I had no idea Andy was planning on asking me at all.

“I was working a night shift and Andy had spoken to my manager and planned it all. He arranged to come in at midnight and propose, so the other night staff were expecting him but they didn't give anything away, and I had no clue.

“Andy is very considerate and thoughtful and I am very lucky to have him in my life.”

Mr Young, a 34-year-old loss adjuster for a company in Cardiff, said he had been thinking about proposing to his new fiancée for about a year but started to seriously plan it a month ago.

He said: “Over the past five years, I've realised she is the one for me.

“I wasn't nervous about proposing to her until I arrived at the nursing home. However, the nerves kicked in once I had walked through the door and I was paranoid Helen would hear my voice and see me.

“I managed to overcome my nerves and pop the question, and I was over the moon when she accepted.”

But, before he asked the big question, as a traditionalist, Mr Young asked Miss Jenkins’ father for permission.

Mother to the bride-to-be Joan Jenkins said: “I suppose now it would be classed as old fashioned but it was particularly touching and very romantic.

“Les – my husband and Helen’s father – and I were very pleased and quite excited. Andy and Helen seem to get on so well together and it is clear to see that they are very much in love with each other.”

The couple, who live in St Andrew’s Road, Malvern, plan to get married sometime this year, possibly on the anniversary of the day they met. The wedding will take place around the Malvern and Ledbury area with Mr Young wearing a kilt to mark his Scottish roots.