The Town Council will deliver this year’s Santa event using five Council-owned vehicles, each equipped with a Santa Sleigh and festive lighting. Three vehicles will operate with a Santa, driver and navigator, while two will run with Santa and a driver only.
Each route will include 2-3 fixed meeting locations – often community centres or pubs, with parking available. These venues are encouraged to host attendees with Santa meeting families both indoors and outdoors for 45-60 minutes at each stop. Between fixed points, vehicles will tour local streets without stopping, covering as many safe streets as possible. Areas requiring more street-by-street touring will use the three-cab vehicles with navigators.
A separate Christmas Eve morning tour will visit all care homes in the Parish. A new ‘Find Santa’ online tool will show route maps and meeting locations so residents can easily find the nearest stop.
In total, 24 volunteers will run the event:
6 Santa’s (for the five main routes plus the care-home tour);
6 Drivers;
4 Navigators;
8 Support vehicle volunteers (two per route on four routes);
Key Improvements of the New Format – Safety Enhancements
Eliminates the risk of Santa riding on the back of moving vehicles.
Avoids large vehicles navigating tight, parked-car-lined streets. Reduces the danger of children approaching moving vehicles by using fixed, static meeting points. Provides trained drivers and proper volunteer vetting, health checks and briefings.
Operational Benefits
Reduces volunteer requirements from 36 to 24, making recruitment more achievable. Uses only Council vehicles, removing risks associated with borrowed or donated vehicles. Ensures standby volunteers and support vehicles are available for quick response to issues. Enables the creation of a reserve pool of trained volunteers, improving reliability.
Community Experience Improvements
Fixed times and locations eliminate delays, missed streets or route overruns. Residents can choose the most convenient time or place to meet Santa, improving accessibility.
Two larger venues will offer extended stays and are accessible by car.
Santa can interact more personally with children at ground level, rather than from a raised platform. Volunteers will spend a maximum of four hours outside instead of five or more.
