Saturday the 15th December dawned and the events team were concerned, the volunteers were dwindling due to ill health or other commitments. Still, the event must go ahead so we convened at the school to start setting up for the craft activities and refreshments.

Thanks to the volunteers who were there we had an event set up in the two halls of SMSG school and were ready with plenty of time to spare. Thanks to the school kitchen staff member who set up the trolley and cooked our hot dogs, we could feed anybody who turned up.

We set up our raffle prizes table and had one of our lovely volunteers hand out free raffle tickets to people as they arrived.

We had a few craft stalls where children could make Christmas cards, paper plate baubles, and pipe cleaner candy canes. The children also had a treasure hunt to find the letters to spell out “Santa Claus” and win a go on the lucky dip and some chocolate coins.

We had a very good turnout, with an estimate of over 50 children and their parents or carers attending (we handed out 56 children’s gifts of a book or selection box of sweets as they left). Feedback was excellent and all said the children enjoyed it.

All too soon the event came to an end as the raffle was drawn and people headed home. Once again our volunteers stepped up and cleaned up the halls and put the school back in order ready for lessons on Monday.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make the event a huge success, and to all the families who turned up and made it all worth the effort. A huge thank you to SMSG school for allowing us to use their halls, and to those who donated raffle prizes etc.

Finally, the Galley Hill Residents Association committee would like to say thank you for your support this year and to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.