Ray is the oldest Santa in Shropshire

The idea came to him when he was just a boy. Ray Hulse was sitting in the dining room at boarding school, eating a sandwich, when he marvelled at the magic of Christmas. "I remember thinking it was a special time," he says. "I wanted it to last forever."

And so it's been his lifetime's work to make sure that the magic of Christmas never fades.

Ray has been Santa for 49 years and will be visiting towns and villages across Shropshire this year, bringing the magic of Christmas to people of all ages. It won't be just children who sit on his knee and offer up a Christmas wish.

• See pictures of Ray's years as Santa in our gallery to your right

Last year, a 25-year-old man from Oswestry visited him and asked to have his photograph taken. Two businessmen also visited him and asked him to bring them a Range Rover. "I said, 'where do you want me to leave it? On your roof?' The men laughed, and said 'No, the drive will be fine'."

You have to think on your feet, when you're playing Santa Claus.

Ray, 67, of Well Meadow, in Bridgnorth, started being Father Christmas when he created a grotto at his local village hall, in Tasley, almost 50 years ago.

"I started out there. Then I did one in a scout hut. It just grew from there. At first, I had to borrow a costume. But it soon took off and became so popular that I had my own costume made."

He created his first grotto at Crown Moto, a Ford garage, in Salop Street, Bridgnorth, and people would come from far and wide to offer him their Christmas wish list. "I used to ask for donations," he says. "I used to raise around £15 in old money.

"But it's got better and better since then. I'd raise money for the Church of England's waifs and strays, then I started to do it for other charities.

There was Hope House and Compton Hospice. I wouldn't like to guess how much I've raised down the years, but I imagine it must be around £50,000."

As the years rolled on, Ray took his roll as Santa more seriously. He built his own sledge, and put the registration plate Santa 1 on it.

But what is it that Ray loves so much about Christmas? "Really, the magic is in the expressions that you see on the kids' faces. That's the reward.

"I have a few questions that I always ask, like 'What would you like for Christmas?' And I try to involve the parents. I'll ask the kids if they had a real fire, then if they say 'yes', I'll ask whether it was lit by their mommy or their daddy.

"Sometimes I'll joke with them, and tell them that they were naughty last year because their mommy or daddy left the fire burning and I burned my bum. Or I'll tell them I came down their chimney and got covered in soot. I'll say 'Please can you make sure you sweep it this year?'"

Other times, Ray will tell youngsters that Santa was unhappy with the quality of carrots left for his reindeer, saying they weren't sweet enough.

He adds: "A lot of these modern houses don't have chimney pots, so I tell the children that Santa has a magic key. I ask if they want to touch it, the expression on their faces when they are touching my magic key is extraordinary. It's those little touches that make it special for them."

Ray gets visits from children up to the age of 14. "Even when they stop believing, they still come in because they get huge joy from it. I had the guy who was 25 last year, from Owestry. He'd never had his photograph taken with Father Christmas, so he came in with his friends and they took his picture.

"And a couple of guys came in and said they'd been really good, so could they have a Range Rover."

Ray has no plans to slow down or retire. As long as his reindeer are fit and healthy, he'll be flying through the skies. "I'm looking forward to my 50th year."

Last year was special. His grandson, Charlie Palmer-Hulse, two, sat on Santa's knee for the first time. "He was very good."

Others are more frightened. "Oh yes," he laughs. "Some children just don't like Santa. But I have a way of calming them down. I have three little white pom poms and three little bells on my hat, so if a child screams at the beard, I hold out the end of my Santa hat and jingle my bells. It calms them down. I won't distress a child in any way. You have one or two who are scared. But I will never allow a parent to force a child on me."

His favourite memory is of being Santa one Christmas morning. "I was walking up Ludlow Road with a pony and trap and it was when they had the old milk churns, back in the 1960s. There was a with the milk churn on the back of a lorry coming down the Ludlow Road, delivering milk. He stopped and slapped the side of his face and said 'Am I really seeing Father Christmas walking up the road with a pony and trap?' He asked if I was real and I said yes. He said 'Keep up the good work'."

Ho Ho Ho.

• Santa will be at Westgate, Bridgnorth, today; at Oswestry on Friday night, at Shrewsbury Market Hall on December 10, at Morrisons, in Wellington on the 18th and at branches of Sainsburys across the county in the run-in to Christmas.

By Andy Richardson