Little helpers needed for Santa

ROTARY Club of Forres is looking for help to keep a local Christmas tradition going.

Santa’s sleigh is over a decade old and in need of replacement but there is also a requirement for storage space, as well as volunteers to steer and run alongside when it is out on rounds visiting families in the area.

Rotary president, Marlyn Somers, explained: “We are looking for any individuals or organisations who can help fund a new one. We also need somewhere to keep it safe and dry during the summer months until Santa returns.

“As Forres is growing, additional evenings are being added to the rounds schedule so we need more volunteers each evening to comply with safety requirements.

“It is not viable for the Rotary to run the sleigh on its own any more - we need people to come forward if it is to continue.”

The Sleigh requires a driver, a Santa, four safety officers and around five people to knock on doors and police stops.

Sleigh tour nights usually run from 5.45-8pm in Forres and Kinloss over evenings in the three weeks before Christmas Day.

Rotary member, Carlo Miele, confirmed the event has been running for at least 30 years.

He said: “ It is an important part of the pre-Christmas tradition in Forres that makes many children and adults happy and festive.

“But before we embark on sourcing a costly new sleigh, we require feedback from the community about its use, somewhere to store it and ideas of how we can raise the capital required. The sleigh belongs to the community - Rotary merely facilitates the organising.”

Visit https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FZ9LPFC and complete a short survey to let Rotary Club of Forres know if the Santa’s sleigh tour should continue and if you can help.