Santa is visiting the Holmes Chapel community in a new sleigh this Christmas, thanks to funding from a local homebuilder. Santa is visiting the Holmes Chapel community in a new sleigh this Christmas, thanks to funding from a local homebuilder. Anwyl Holmes donated more than £1,000 to enable the Holmes Chapel Partnership to buy materials for the sleigh’s refurbishment. Volunteers from the Bridge the Gap Shed Crew, assisted by vice chairman of the Holmes Chapel Partnership (HCP) Peter Whiers and treasurer Richard Garton, then undertook the challenge of rebuilding the sleigh. Peter said:
“For over 40 years Santa’s sleigh has been a well-loved tradition in Holmes Chapel and District. Throughout December, local voluntary groups bring Santa and his sleigh around the neighbourhood to meet excited children on their doorsteps.”
The current sleigh was built in 1989 by the Holmes Chapel Round Table, which closed in 2002. Its management was then taken over by the Holmes Chapel Rotary Club until they also closed in 2018. Since then, the Holmes Chapel Partnership has been the custodian of the sleigh. Peter added:
“We’d like to thank Anwyl for their generous donation towards materials. We estimate that over the past 33 years collections made using the Santa sleigh have exceed £100,000. All of the money raised has supported local organisations and charities in our community. “After more than three decades of service, and many annual maintenance repairs, the time had come to rebuild the Holmes Chapel sleigh. The galvanised steel chassis was sound, but the wooden seating area and sleigh floor was showing its age.”
The wooden sections were removed and rebuilt using marine grade material, including Rudolf and his reindeer friends, all using the original drawings by the 1989 sleigh’s designer Dave Horsman. Graeme Gibb, sales director at Anwyl Homes Cheshire and North Wales, said:
“The refurbished sleigh looks fabulous, which is testament to the quality of the original design and the hard work of all the volunteers who helped rebuild it. We are pleased we could play a small part in reviving the sleigh so it can hopefully serve the Holmes Chapel community for another 30 years or more. “We were delighted to welcome Santa and his new sleigh to our Victoria Mills development to meet the new families who have made this their home. It was wonderful to see the smiles on the children’s faces when Santa arrived.”
The donation was one of several from the ‘Love from Anwyl’ funding pot, which shared a total of £5,000 between good causes in Holmes Chapel. Love From Anwyl is a voluntary scheme attached to 138 new homes being built at Victoria Mills, where two brand new show homes are now open to view. It’s in addition to local investment agreed during the planning process. See www.anwyl.co.uk/victoriamills to find out more.
