Santa’s Christmas tour of Shipston courtesy of Rotary

With the support and the generosity of local businesses, Shipston Rotary took Santa in his new sleigh around the town during December where he and his helpers enjoyed greeting many excited children and their families. With six nights and a Saturday town collection, our local community helped to raise over £1,600 for the Rotary Charity Fund – a tremendous achievement considering the Covid restrictions facing the Rotarians.

The sleigh and Santa’s grotto, constructed from materials supplied by the Shipston branch of Building & Plumbing Supplies, was fitted on the back of a fully liveried pick-up vehicle supplied by Unity Cross Roads Garage in Tredington and the sleigh was all lit up with Christmas music playing.

Although Santa was limited in what he could do this year, he still made lots of friends as he strode majestically ahead of the sleigh waving to the children. Everyone, not just Shipston parents and children, was as generous as ever making their donations to Rotary Charities.

A big thank you to everyone who supported Shipston Rotary in a year of great difficulties for us all. Despite the challenges, thanks to the amazing generosity of the people of Shipston, Shipston Rotary had a very successful lead up to Christmas.

The Santa runs, the Tree of Life, the bicycle raffle, the trolley dash and the Saturday town centre collections raised a remarkable total of £3,279.96 for Rotary charities and good causes.