It’s December again – it hardly seems like a year since the last one! And as always it’s a busy month for Santa, but once again he has made time to visit the wonderful of Peterborough and has asked us to keep him company.
You can find full details on our website which will be kept up to date with any changes, with a quick summary below. On the nights when Santa is out with us you can find out exactly where he is using our Santa Tracker. And if you’re looking for Christmas present ideas, why not look at the “Right Royal” quiz sheets in our store, where you will also find past issues if you missed any!
If Santa isn’t passing close to you on his tours you can also find him at the following venues this month:
Tuesday 5th December – Hampton Gardens Join us at Hampton Gardens School for their first “Festive Event”. Meet Santa, eat burgers, drink mulled wine, and sing along with the Salvation Army brass band!
Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th December: Morrison’s, Cardea
Saturday 16th December: Sainsbury’s, Oxney Road
Wednesday 20th and Friday 22nd December – Ortongate Centre (2:30-4:30pm)
Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th December (Christmas Eve): Sainsbury’s, Bretton Centre
Yes it’s December, and ready or not Christmas will soon be upon us!
As always, Santa will be playing his not-insignificant role in proceedings, and amongst his very many duties – while he’s delegated the toy making and present wrapping to his elves – he’ll be making a few trips to Peterborough to say hello.
Peterborough Lions Club will be helping Santa to get out and meet people – he’ll be travelling on our new float, to the following locations:
Peterborough Museum (Sat 3rd Dec)
East of England Showground – Inflatable 5k obstacle fun run (Sat 10th Dec)
Morrisons (Cardea, Stanground) (Sun 10th Dec)
Morrisons (Lincoln Road) (Sat/Sun 17th/18th Dec)
Sainsbury’s (Bretton) (Sat 24th Dec – Christmas Eve, so a big night for Santa!)
In addition to the above Santa will be touring the following areas of Peterborough
Netherton (Fri 16th Dec)
Orton Wistow (Mon 19th Dec)
Stanground (Wed 21st Dec)
Orton Waterville (Fri 23rd Dec)
We – and in particular Santa – look forward to seeing you soon!
Full details of routes and additional information can be found on Santa’s own page
Believe it or not, it’s that time of year again already! And after having to mostly hide away last year until the big night, Father Christmas is back with us to see you!
If you have a few pennies to drop in a collection bucket we’ll of course be very grateful, but what Santa really wants to see is smiling and waving, so don’t let him down!
We’ll be starting this weekend (4/5th December) at Sainsbury’s Oxney Road store, with other sightings guaranteed throughout the month – follow our Facebook page for more details!
Today, it was announced that Peterborough will be amongst many places moving into a new Tier 4 of COVID restrictions. This has forced many of us to completely change or cancel out Christmas plans, and Peterborough Lions Club are no different.
Santa joined us on a hastily arranged Zoom call this evening and here’s what he had to say:
First and foremost, Christmas is NOT cancelled. Santa knows who’s been good, he knows what you’re hoping to find in your stockings, and he is exempt from the Tier 4 restriction so will still be visiting you on Christmas Eve.
Santa wanted to say thank you to the people of Peterborough who have come to see him on tour around Orton Wistow last night, or outside Sainsbury’s today or last weekend. He loves seeing you, even with social distancing, and he, along with Peterborough Lions Club, thank you for your generous donations which will be put to good use around Peterborough next year.
But: Santa, and all of us involved with bringing him to you, have no alternative but to accept that for this year that must come to an abrupt end. This is to protect your safety and the safety of his Peterborough Lions helpers. Santa will return to his workshop to make sure that everything is ready for when he sees you in just six sleep’s time.
Santa is extremely sad that he will not now be able to tour Netherton tomorrow, nor Stanground next Wednesday. But he has assured us that this just means he’ll have to bring extra chocolates when he returns in 2021.
Peterborough Lions Club would like to add that we thank Santa for his company this year and look forward to seeing him again next year.
You can find details about the projects supported by the money raised elsewhere on this website, including:
Our community minibus, provided free of charge for use by local community groups
We hope that 2021 will allow the return of our annual Showtime, providing an entertaining free night out for hundreds of adults in care homes
Not to mention many smaller projects.
If you had planned to donate to us in person, but now cannot, you can donate via our website. You can also buy one (or several) of our quiz sheets – past and present – from our store.
Thank you Peterborough for your support. See you soon, stay safe.
As you can imagine, as much as Santa wants to come and see you before Christmas, and as much as we want to bring him to you, this year has changed a lot of things.
At the moment we have one confirmed weekend outside Sainsbury’s in Bretton on 11th/12th December.
We are trying to secure other dates and other locations but because of social distancing requirements we cannot be at store entrances and that prevents many supermarkets offering us the opportunities.
(We cannot visit Morrisons in Lincoln Road this year but they have very kindly allowed us to place collection tins at checkouts for which we are extremely grateful.)
We have plans to visit Orton Wistow, Netherton and Stanground with Santa but we are awaiting final permissions and insurance clearance before we can confirm dates. Please bear with us! What we do know is that even if we can proceed, we will not be able to stop for photos or knock on doors, so this will be about spreading some Christmas cheer rather than fundraising. (If you would like to donate, we’d love you to visit our donation page!).
It goes without saying that all plans will be subject to last minute changes if those involved have to isolate; the health and safety of Santa, his helpers, and everyone we come into contact with is of-course paramount.
Whatever does happen, we wish you a Merry Christmas and look forward to a more traditional one next year!
Peterborough Lions Club, with the support of our great friend Santa Claus, and our very own Lennie the Lion, were delighted to be able to make a special visit to the Children’s Ward at Peterborough City Hospital.
In a dramatic entrance, Santa arrived in a motorcade of 7 police cars and a fire engine, complete with sirens and blue lights (competing with Santa’s own multi-coloured lights) to announce his arrival.
The children in the ward waved excitedly at us (or maybe it was just at Santa, who always steals the show?) and it was great for us to be able to bring a smile to some faces in the run up to Christmas. It’s a reminder that whilst some children won’t be lucky enough to be at home for Christmas, Santa always knows where to find them.
Thank you to Peterborough Lions Past President Bill for arranging this visit, and for all those Lions and others involved in making it happen.
The Peterborough Lions Club CAROL FLOAT, with Santa and his elves, is out and about! You may have seen it at SAINSBURYS at Bretton on the 8th and 9th of December.
It will be at MORRISONS’ at CARDEA/STANGROUND N. on Sat. 16th December, and at MORRISONS’ on LINCOLN ROAD on the 23rd and 24th December.
Our sincerest thanks go out to the above businesses for allowing us to collect funds which are used for mainly local good causes. ALL monies collected from the public, net only of actual direct costs, go into charitable causes. We raise our administration costs by holding social fund raisers within the club and through annual subscriptions.
If you are at either of the above venues on the dates mentioned please say hello and, if you are able, pop some coins in Santa’s tin. Every little helps us to carry on our good causes.
All the members of Peterborough Lions Club would like to say a huge thank you to the people of Peterborough.
You very kindly made generous donations to our happy collectors at each of our Christmas Carol Float venues.
We managed to raise just over £3000 in total!
This money will go to help lots of varying causes throughout Peterborough and enable us to continue our support for groups and individuals alike.
Our main cause this year is Peterborough Association for The Blind.
We would also like to thank the people who came to help us from other worthy groups and charities.
The money raised is also a fitting tribute to John Clarkson who sadly died before Christmas and who had worked so hard on getting the Carol Float ready for another year.
It is with great sadness that we report the death shortly before Christmas of Peterborough Lion John Clarkson. He leaves a wife (a fellow Lion), two daughters and three sons.
Lion John was a very active member of the club, and heavily involved in some of our most important fundraising events – including the Christmas Carol Float, making his death in the days leading up to the last weekend before Christmas all the more poignant.
The funeral will be held at 2:30pm on Wednesday 7th January at the Church of St. John The Baptist in Werrington. Family flowers only.
