Father Christmas will be back doing his festive rounds this year with a new-look sleigh.

Members of Turton Rotary Club will be accompanying him this Christmas.

This will be the first time since 2019 the club has visited streets with Father Christmas after a fire in a warehouse destroyed the sleigh and Rudolph.

The festive tradition had been going on for three decades before the fire.

Now after reaching out to the University of Bolton's special effects department a new sleigh is close to being completed.

Bradshaw Sheet Metal also built the trailer for it too.

And now the rotary club is appealing for help in storing the sleigh when it is not in use - from the end of December to the end of November.

Jim Turner from the rotary's community projects team said: “It was a difficult process, but the new sleigh is fantastic, thanks to the university kindly offering to create a new sleigh.

“They really took on board what we wanted it to look like

“We started on it during the early part of last year, but we were still restricted when spending time with them.

“When we were told we could finally go and see it, it was just magnificent.

“We had the same sleigh for many years.”

The original sleigh was designed and built by students at Turton High School and the Rudolph was drawn by one of the club’s former members, John Haslam.

The wagon is similar to the old one that everyone came to know and love.

And being a graphic designer himself, Jim says he will design it.

Jim added: “The sleigh means a lot and it’s something that’s been a feature for a lot of people’s Christmasses.

“The area around the streets is magical, which is well lit, and there are snowmen costumes with everyone dressing up.

“It’s quite a sight really. People love it, especially the kids.”

He says it is so popular that children come out of their homes to see the sleigh even in their PJs with their parents.

The route is usually published beforehand, while families wait in anticipation.

It is one of the main fundraisers that the club holds, along with its duck race, and they are also in need of someone to house their ducks for the race.

The club usually raise quite a bit of money, and in 2019 volunteers from Turton, Bolton, and Le Moors Rotary Clubs, spent over 225 hours walking the streets and standing at shops with the sleigh to collect almost £7,000.

Once they have found a permanent place to store the sleigh when it's complete, the team will be collecting donations for local charities at Asda in Astley Bridge and Morrisons, in Harwood, as well as other areas across Bolton this December.

For more information or to help Jim, call him on 07976395157.

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