Santa and his elves are now out and about in the streets of Poole.

Since it was launched 18 years ago, the Poole Bay Rotary Santa Express has raised over £100,000 for local charities and is the club’s most successful fundraising activity.

With Covid safety in mind, Santa has asked his elves not to go knocking on doors this year.  Santa himself is on board the train, while the elves walk alongside with their donation buckets.

Pete Taylor, Santa Express organiser for Poole Bay Rotary said: “The Santa Express is as popular as ever.  We’ve just updated the website to highlight that as we’re not knocking on every door this year, the Santa Express is running ahead of previous year’s timings and so people really do need to listen out to ensure they don’t miss the train.”

Once again this year the Rotary Club has offered local charities and organisations the opportunity to run the Santa Express themselves and raise money for their own causes.  This year the train is being used by:  Poole and Parkstone Rotary Clubs, HomeStart, Poole Soroptimists, Poole Lions, Dorset Mind, Waste Not Want Not, and Upton residents.

Full details of the dates, routes and times can be found on the Poole Bay Rotary website: www.poolebayrotary.org

Donations can also be made online via: www.justgiving.com/rotaryclubofpoolebay