ONE woman who visited Father Christmas in his grotto at the Kingsway Centre, Newport, had a surprise present – a marriage proposal.

Toby Bourne and his girlfriend Brenda Smith, both 26, were finishing their Christmas shopping in Newport on Saturday when they decided to visit Santa and get a picture taken.

But as Miss Smith chatted to the man in red, her boyfriend was moved by the Christmas spirit to get down on one knee in front of shoppers and offer her a white gold ring.

Father Christmas and volunteers from St David’s Hospice Care, who run the grotto, applauded as Miss Smith said “yes” to the proposal.

The two, from Ross-on-Wye, said it was the first time they had been to Newport but they will definitely be coming back.

Miss Smith said: “Me and Santa were hugging each other and then my boyfriend got on one knee and proposed! It was unbelievable. It was so unexpected. Santa had to hold me up because my legs were shaking like jelly.

“Father Christmas told me, ‘I’m smiling underneath my beard’.”

Miss Smith, a cleaning supervisor, and Mr Bourne, a shift hands manager, have been together for 14 months. They met at school seven years ago and hope to get married in the summer if they can save enough money.

Although Mr Bourne had been planning to propose he hadn’t decided on the exact way to do it – until he saw his girlfriend chatting to Santa Claus, in Newport for a brief visit from Lapland.

He realised the perfect addition to a Christmas engagement would be Father Christmas himself.

“I felt as if I was dreaming,” Miss Smith said. “We will definitely be celebrating this year.”

Franca Nigro, events and community fundraiser for St David’s Hospice Care, was among those applauding the happy couple. She said: “We couldn’t believe it was happening. She had no idea and everyone was surprised – it really was a lovely end to the day and without a doubt the most exciting thing to happen in the grotto so far this year. "