Oswestry's Covid-safe Santa run raises £4,600 for charity
Oswestry Cambrian Rotary Club raised £4,600 from its Santa sleigh run this festive season.
Organisers say that the collection is far less than last year because of the pandemic but it was still much more than expected in these difficult times due to the generosity of residents.
Mike Lade from the club said: "Now that we are a fully-registered charity, that figure can be enhanced by Gift Aid. This money can now to be distributed around our local groups and other Rotary-supported charities and projects.
"The collection is far less than last year of course with the pandemic but much more than we had expected in these very difficult times for everyone but is due to the generosity of our residents."
He said there were many people to thank including Traditional Products for storing the sleigh, and Mikes Bike’s for the maintenance of the sleigh.
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Thanks had to go to the volunteers who had joined the sleigh collecting on the visits to Oswestry and to the villages around the town, Mike added.
"Without their help our drive-bys in the villages would not have been possible," he said.
Club president Robin Brown added: “Santa was greeted with warm smiles on the street rounds and static sites and seeing the faces of the children was wonderful. With the year we have all had, our club decided we just had to do a Covid Safe Santa run to give some air of normality to herald in the festive season”.
During the event 375 hours were spent as Santa, driving the sleigh, as marshals and dealing with the money.
More than 135 hours were spent by Rotarians preparing the sleigh and other ancillary work and admin to get it to happen.
The sleigh travelled 170 miles around Oswestry, Morda, Gobowen, St Martins, Whittington and Park Hall.
