Rotary Club of Sidcup pulled out all the stops this Christmas and raised the amazing sum of £12,000 all of which will be donated to local charities, with some going to further the work of International charities.

Members and volunteers were out most evenings in December with their sleigh all lit up and playing Christmas music and carols and with their very own Santa they visited almost 7,000 houses in the evenings. There were also appearances at the Sidcup Cracker event in Sidcup High Street on December 3rd and collections were also made at Ruxley Manor Garden Centre.

“It was a magnificent effort by our members” said President Malcolm Greening “and luckily the weather was kind. It was good to see the smiles on the faces of the children, as families and communities gathered outside their homes to welcome Santa, who had a few words for all the little ones and distributed sweets. Some families even brought out mince pies, but Santa couldn’t eat any whilst wearing his beard, but his elves managed to eat them all up. We had around a dozen or so Rotary members out most nights, along with a driver towing the sleigh and a navigator to make sure we didn’t deviate from the route. We would like to have visited more streets, but of course as it gets later, children are off to bed, so a couple of hours each evening was about the average. Thanks to the kindness of the people of Sidcup, many local charities will benefit and we can’t thank them enough for their support of our efforts”. Rotarian Gerry Packman who organised the collections and was out every night seeing that the operation ran smoothly and acting as Santa’s minder (Chief Elf) said afterwards: “It wasn't always the same Santa, some of our members took it in turn and I think they had more fun than the children. It's good to know that so many local charities will benefit from our efforts". Picture shows: Santa gets ready to set off for another evening touring the streets of Sidcup. 

Based on information supplied by Derek Hope.