The annual collection made by members of Wigan Rotary Club in the company of Father Christmas throughout December 2017 has been a huge success with the total amount raised reaching £14,063! Wigan Rotary President Gwyneth Millard said ‘“Thank you to all the great people of Wigan who have donated so generously throughout December to Wigan Rotary Club’s Santa collection. We have met some fantastic people on the routes and at the supermarkets and with this record collection we can continue to support the work of community groups in Wigan.

However we need a safe home for the sleigh until next December. Can anyone help? It’s the size of a small car but is 7 ft 3” high.

Wigan Rotary Club can’t begin to express its enormous gratitude to all the helpers who are volunteers willingly giving up their spare time. The Club is also extremely grateful to all its Sponsors, too numerous to mention, however Westwood Van Hire, Local Life, The 78 Club do need special thanks for their remarkable contribution. The staff from Wigan Council including their Chief Executive and Directors, joined in the fun at Tesco too. Tesco’s support during December was outstanding, offering us warm drinks, chairs and cheerful tolerance. So along with other local businesses support and all the willing pairs of hands helping to fill the coffers, we could not have achieved this wonderful result and meet our expectations. The major Supermarkets, particularly Tesco, who have given us tremendous support throughout this year, as have staff at The Galleries, the Town Centre Manager who all offered venues to facilitate collections – we need to thank them all. Finally, last, but definitely not least, the invaluable all year round support by the Observer particularly, and other local press who promote all the clubs activities, for which we say Thank You! What a wonderful example of community engagement. The Club’s only expenses are for maintenance of the float, petrol for the generator, and insurance; the members of our great club meet all the other costs, so we can give back nearly every penny raised to local charities.

The Club sends season’s greetings to everyone who participated in this huge event.