The team behind the Gosportarians sleigh, which has been going around the town for the past six years, recently went for lunch together as they made their final preparations.
With the backdrop of this year’s ongoing cost of living crisis, the volunteers are looking forward to putting some smiles on people’s faces. The Gosportarians will take their sleigh on evening journeys throughout Gosport, collecting money for charity and letting children get their photo taken with Father Christmas and his elves.
Organiser Malcolm Dent said: ‘We decided to get together for lunch before this year’s sleigh efforts – the calm before the storm, if you will. It was lovely to spend that time together, in full Christmas dress, and get everything into place for this year’s festivities.
‘It’s one of the things that has become an annual mainstay for the Gosportarians. We have done the Christmas sleigh for six years now and it’s a lovely tradition to keep up. We get to collect money for good causes and get to see so many happy faces – and that’s what makes it all so worthwhile.
‘It’s a lovely thing for us, people say that when the sleigh comes out that’s when Christmas starts. It’s so heartwarming to have support like that.’
This year, the Gosportarians’ sleigh has received a bit of a makeover.
Along with a brand new dashboard, an extra reindeer has been called in to help Santa and the team get around the town.
‘Every year this venture just seems to go from strength to strength,’ Malcolm added.
‘But we love doing it so the sleigh is here to stay.’
Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, Malcolm and the team worked tirelessly to spread festive cheer throughout Gosport.
The volunteers had to recruit five Covid marshals for each trip to make sure that people were observing the social distancing rules – but Malcolm and the team said it just went to show how far they would go to put smiles on the faces of their neighbours.