PART of Blackrod became a winter wonderland as the rest of Bolton enjoyed hot summer sunshine.

A blanket of snow brought a distinctly chilly feel to July as staff and customers at The Poacher pub welcomed Santa Claus to town.

Landlord Ian Bonar put up the Christmas decorations and got everyone into the festive spirit for a late, late Christmas party in a bid to raise cash for charity.

And Father Christmas took time out from his year-long annual holiday to make sure the event was a big hit.

Customers who had been enjoying the sunshine all day packed into the Scot Lane pub on Saturday night to enjoy the festive fun.

A total of £350 was raised on the night, which will be matched by British Aerospace in Warton to create a grand total of £700.

Ian said: "We could have done with a bit of rain really, then people might have been more in tune with Christmas! But in the end it didn't matter because everyone forgot it was summer and had a brilliant time."

The pub was decked out with Christmas decorations and a tree and many staff and customers wore festive costumes.

Father and Mother Christmas were handing out presents to customers who paid a donation to the charity fund for Help the Hospices.

"Snow" made from polystyrene was also spread inside the pub. But the biggest hit of the night was the artificial snow machine which had been hired from a firm in Kidderminster to bring a real Christmas card scene to outside the pub.

Ian said: "Some people going past who didn't know about the party were giving us some funny looks, but a lot of motorists sounded their horns.

"Even though Father Christmas has been here in July he's still promised to come back in December, so we're not worried about missing out on our presents then!"

He added: "Near the end of the night one joker said he was looking forward to the New Year's Eve party next Saturday -- but he's going to be disappointed, because we're so tired out after this that it's back to normal summer mode next week!"