AN EIGHT-LEGGED surprise greeted children in Claire House Hospice this Easter.

The Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire Oaks took along some of the stars of its new Venom feature to the Bebington hospice as part of an Easter surprise organised by the aquarium for the children and their families.

As well as the creepy creatures – which included a tarantula and hissing cockroaches among others – Blue Planet’s cuddly costume character Charlie the Clownfish also made a special appearance.

The aquarium donated a number of soft toys and other gifts from its shop to help furnish a new beach hut-themed play area at the hospice.

Team members at the aquarium also brought in their own Easter eggs to give to the children.

Blue Planet’s Paul Renolds said: “We launched the new Venom feature at the weekend. However not everyone is able to come down to the aquarium to see it so we thought this would be a great way of bringing a little bit of the feature to meet the children.

“We have personal experience of the truly extraordinary work that the team at Claire House do and it’s a real privilege that we had the chance to meet some of the children, their families and the staff.”

Claire House is a 10-bedded hospice for children with life-limiting, life-threatening conditions from across Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales and the Isle of Man.

In addition to caring for children and young adults they also focus on the needs of the whole family, providing bereavement, and other support, for as long as it is needed.