For over 40 years Santa's Sleigh has been a well-loved tradition of Christmas in Holmes Chapel and the surrounding villages. On December evenings, local voluntary groups bring Santa and his sleigh around the neighbourhood so that excited children can meet Santa at their doorstep.
The sleigh visits as many roads and estates as it can across Holmes Chapel, Cranage, Brereton and Goostrey throughout December - regardless of the weather, which was a bit wild on some evenings!
Volunteer Santa’s elves collect donations on route which are passed on to local groups, charities and good causes. This year text donations were launched for those who no longer have spare cash at hand.
Santa was joined by a different local group for each outing, with some donating their share of the money raised to local charities. Groups involved this year were: Holmes Chapel Scouts, Holmes Chapel Guides, Goostrey Scouts, Brereton Scouts, Holmes Chapel Community Pre-school, Holmes Chapel Viking Explorer Scouts, Dane Sound Radio, Holmes Chapel Primary School PTA, Hermitage Primary School PTA, SibelCo, Tangent & 41 Club, Bridge the Gap and HC Velo.
Chair or the Holmes Chapel Partnership, Peter Whiers, said:
“Seeing smiling faces and getting thank yous from children, parents and older people on our route makes the hard work of running the sleigh all worthwhile. We can only keep he sleigh going with help from volunteers each night, and the groups who take Santa round the village.
The money raised by the sleigh runs supports many local causes, as well as keeping the sleigh up and running, so thank you to everyone in Holmes Chapel and the surrounding area who made a donation this year."
The Holmes Chapel Partnership have been the custodians of Santa's Sleigh since 2018, taking over from the now closed Holmes Chapel Rotary Club.
Over the past 33 years, collections made using the Santa Sleigh have been estimated to exceed well over £100,000, all of which has been shared throughout the community, and has supported many local organisations and charities.