Santa usually has reindeer to pull his sleigh so he can deliver presents to children.

But unfortunately for Father Christmas, you don’t usually find reindeer wandering around Woolwich.

Thankfully for him, the army were on hand to provide him with suitable substitutes.

The horses from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery can’t fly and none of them have red noses.

However Vodka and Kraken are used to pulling massive 13-pound quick firing cannons, so were more than capable of taking Santa where he needed to go.

Santa was travelling from the Royal Arsenal to the Woolwich Welfare Centre to delivery presents to children.

The army holds a fundraiser every year with the SSAFA armed forces charity to gather gifts around Christmas so they can give them out to children in the local community.

Captain Gregg Flynn, from Catford, was down helping Santa get in his carriage to deliver the presents.

He said that afterwards he realised he didn’t know which of his fellow soldiers was assuming the role of Santa.

He said: “I still haven’t quite got to the bottom of who was Santa. Maybe it was the man himself – we will never know.”