15th December. The first of our 6 street
collection evenings in which I am involved.
The two Rotary clubs of Shepperton divide the town between them, and
Aurora covers the area to the North of the M3.
Although I am the Consort to the District Governor, I don’t allow my
status to prevent me from showing from
time to time that I can still roll up my sleeves and get involved in ordinary
Rotary activities, especially at Christmas, because the Street collections are
such fun. Tonight I had the privilege of assisting Father Christmas as he went
from door to door meeting children (and adults) who always look forward to the
arrival of him and his sleigh in their street.
Collectors with sleigh - from a few years ago
The ideal team for a collection evening will be 11-strong,
comprising a driver to tow the sleigh, 8 collectors with buckets who will knock
on every door seeking donations and ensuring every child knows that Santa is
here, a ‘tail-end Charlie’ to follow along in a car to ensure no collectors go
missing, and of course father Christmas himself, who takes time out from his
busy schedule every year to accompany us. With 6 street collections to
undertake, the numbers needed place quite a strain on our manpower, so on 4 of
the evenings we seek help from a local charity who provide six collectors in
return for a share of the money collected. This evening we were accompanied by
the dementia charity Purple Angels, of which Jean Saunders is the Shepperton
Ambassador.
Purple Angels logo
So it was that we gathered at Laurie Burrell’s house, where
Gill briefed all collectors (this was the first year for the Purple Angels
volunteers), and admired Father Christmas, who seemed fatter and jollier than
ever this year. Our route tonight was to start in Tanglyn Avenue, then cross
Laleham Road to Greeno Crescent, visiting every house and street in that area,
finishing in Sheep Walk. As we moved
off, the sleigh looked splendid with its lights twinkling brightly and
Christmas carols blaring from its speakers. We had only just arrived in Tanglyn
Avenue, when we were spotted by our first child, waving at Father Christmas
from her pushchair and spellbound by the sleigh. As Santa approached the child turned extremely
shy, which often happens, and she refused to look at him, or even take one of
his magic sweets (that was unusual). However she cheered up as Santa retreated,
and she was able to observe him from a safer distance.
Laleham Road
One of the many unique features of the Rotary street
collections, is that almost without exception, people are pleased to see him,
and open their doors to put some coins into the collectors’ buckets. Many hear
the sleigh coming and are already standing at the door as we approach, often
with children in their arms, or standing at their side. Santa likes the
collectors to try and establish the children’s names as soon as they realise
there is a child in the house, then, whilst fetching him to meet the children,
to whisper their names to him. Then, he can arrive on the doorstep saying
hello, you must be Kyle (or Olivia, or Scarlet, or Finlay – children’s names
are very different these days), which creates a magical moment as the child
wonders how Father Christmas knows their name.
Two years ago, and my sister Yvonne (4th from left) helps out
A few children, like the first we met, are terrified, but I
would say that most are very excited and happy to speak to Father Christmas,
telling him what they want for Christmas, and anything else that’s happening in
their lives. One little girl proudly announced that Mummy had pulled out one of
her teeth today. Most of the time this evening Father Christmas told them that
they need to be good for another 10 days if he is to come back on Christmas
Eve. One boy wasn’t sure he had his facts right. ‘I thought it was 9 days’, he
said. ‘Whatever’ said Father Christmas, ‘You still have to be good.’ On
reflection I think he was a very clever boy. He knew that he only needed to be
good until Christmas Eve. After Santa has been, he could be as naughty as he
liked. If a child expressed a wish for a
big present, like a bike, Father Christmas thought it best not to make any
promises, but to say ‘You will have to be particularly good if you want a bike,
then we’ll see’.
A bike
Sometimes neighbouring houses would all be out in the street
waiting for Santa, with parents and children equally excited, creating a party
atmosphere, with everyone wanting a photo of him. At one point Father Christmas
was nearly bowled over as a little girl who couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8
came racing over to him, shouting ‘Santa
Claus!’ and giving him a mighty hug. Parents happily handed over their children
to have their photo taken with Father Christmas and sometimes it was the
parents themselves who wanted their pictures taken with him. I think they
remembered how magical Santa’s visit was when they themselves were children and they wanted their
own children to have the same experience. On several occasions, cars stopped in
the road because the drivers wanted to hand some money over to our collectors.
At one house a man came out with a great jar of coins which he collects all
year round, just so that he can hand it all over to the Rotary club when we
call. On at least one occasion our collectors were told that ‘Christmas doesn’t
start for us until the Rotary sleigh comes down our road.’ A number of elderly
people asked if they could speak to Father Christmas, because they enjoy his
visit every bit as much as the children. As we passed the The Bull pub, all the customers were out on the pavement, wishing us well, waving to Santa and putting
coins in our buckets.
The Bull
I hope I have managed to convey some of the excitement and
sheer joy that our Christmas street collections bring, not just to residents,
but to the collectors. It is a true community occasion, supported by all
residents. Some of the Purple Angels collectors were clearly thrilled by the
occasion, particularly with the way they were welcomed at virtually every door
they came to. One of these ladies had brought her son with her to help out, and
there was a momentary panic when he announced that he had lost his iphone 6
(whatever that is), but a short retracing of steps enabled him to find it lying
in the road. That was a narrow escape.
i phone 6
Back at Laurie’s house, we were able to relax, as the money
was counted, whilst Pat provided us all with tea and mince pies. In years gone
by we would all sit around a table counting every coin by hand, and putting it
in bags for delivery to the Bank in the morning. These days, though, we have a
counting machine. We just pour the coins in the top, and it is all counted and
sorted into the different denominations, and it tells us when the coins are
ready to be bagged up. Only two people are required for this operation, which
takes a fraction of the time it used to take. The machine is very good,
although it doesn’t cope very well with foreign coins, which can cause
problems.
The final total came to £366 collected for the evening,
which we were quite happy with, although it was not as much as some of our
other routes.
A coin counting machine, similar to ours
On 19th and 20th December, I took my
turn at the static collection outside Tesco’s supermarket in Sunbury. From 10
a.m. until 6 p.m. our sleigh was parked up outside the store, playing a
selection of carols and other Christmas songs, whilst two collectors engaged
with customers entering and leaving the store. Club members took one-hour slots
standing with collecting bucket in one hand and bucket of sweets in the
other. The idea was to offer sweets to
children as they passed, but in truth I think I handed out more to adults than
children. Most people were too busy and
pre-occupied to even notice us, but I reckon about one in ten stopped to admire
the sleigh, or to have a chat.
Our sleigh, complete with 6 ft elf, outside Tesco's
Some were exceptionally generous, with £10 notes being
handed over. One woman said she wanted to donate to her favourite charity, as
she put some coins in my bucket. I didn’t get a chance to ask why Rotary was so
special to her. The DG, who also did a slot late on Friday was approached by a
dozen boys from St Paul’s Catholic College, who all put some of their money
into the bucket. I chatted for a while
to a woman in a wheelchair, who was waiting with her carer for a taxi to
transport her back to the Nursing Home near Sunbury station where she lived. I told her some stories about the things
children say to Santa sometimes when he calls at their homes, and I think she
quite enjoyed the wait for transport. Before she went she insisted in emptying
her purse into my bucket, despite my protests that she was being over-generous.
John and Jean, with collecting bucket in one hand, bucket of sweets in the other
On Monday 22nd December was our final street
collection, around Charlton Village, and
once again I was privileged to accompany Father Christmas. We already knew that
this evening would be special because there was a street party planned to
coincide with Santa’s visit. There is a house in Walnut Tree Road (which you
can see from the main road as you pass) which in my opinion is the
best-illuminated in Shepperton at Christmas. Whenever we arrive there on our
collection evenings, we always stop for a photo opportunity outside the house.
For two or three years, they have taken one of our collection buckets, and left
it outside their house, encouraging people to make a donation as they stop to
admire the lights. Well this year, the owners (Karen Howkins and her husband)
decided to take our visit to another level, by organising a street party, with
mulled wine and mince pies on offer, and a raffle (with really good prizes)
from which half the proceeds would be donated to our Charity Fund. She wanted Father
Christmas to draw the raffle, and also wanted the Rotarians to judge 1st,
2nd and 3rd in a best-lit house competition (in which her
own house was forbidden to enter).
The collection team in Charlton Village, outside Karen Howkins' house
We set off at 5.30 and our first call was at the Harrow pub
. We actually devote one evening to collecting at pubs and restaurants, but as
the Harrow is a little way out from the centre of Shepperton, we don’t always get there, so this evening we
included it in our tour of Charlton Village. Santa went in first to ask permission
(always the best thing to do) and the landlord kindly allowed us to come in.
So, with the sleigh parked outside the front door, belting out Christmas music,
Pauline and Doreen accompanied Father Christmas into the pub, which was
surprisingly busy for the time of day. There was much jollity as people told
Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and he promised them it would all be arranged to their satisfaction, whilst
customers gave generously. Even a couple sitting outside smoking cigarettes
were pleased to see Santa, and wanted their photo taken with him.
Santa gets mobbed in Walnut Tree Road
It was approaching 6.30 p.m. as our sleigh approached
Karen’s house in Walnut Tree Road where there was clearly a good crowd of 70 or
80 people, and we could see that a marquee had been erected next to the house.
This of course explained why so many houses had appeared to be unoccupied as we
came along the road. Obviously Santa was the main attraction and it was clear
that 20 or 30 children were thoroughly excited by the time he arrived, with
several of them taking him by surprise as they ran over to greet him. Poor
Santa was deluged for the next few minutes as he tried to speak to every child,
and satisfy all requests for photographs (one teenage girl even took a
‘selfie’ with him). Soon it was time for the raffle draw, and Santa moved into
the marquee and pulled out the winning tickets. He was impressed by just how
many tickets were in the box to be drawn – this event had obviously been well
supported by local people.
Santa draws winning raffle tickets
We needed to continue our collection at that point, and
Father Christmas reluctantly said farewell to all the people at the party,
taking just one mince pie to keep his energy up for the rest of the evening. As
Santa met more children on their doorsteps, current fashions in their requests
became apparent. Dolls are still popular with little girls, and merchandise
connected with the new movie ‘Frozen’ are probably the most asked-for items. One girl, whose age I would estimate at 5 or 6
surprised Santa when he asked her what she would like for Christmas. ‘A
triceratops’ came the reply. Santa assumed he hadn’t heard properly, as
that sounded more like a dinosaur, so he asked her again what she would most
like for Christmas. ‘A triceratops’ she said again. At this moment her mother
explained to Father Christmas ‘She loves dinosaurs’. He said he was impressed
that she could even pronounce the name, never mind know what it was. A little
boy in Hetherington Road was less impressed to see Father Christmas, and shut
the front door in his face, much to the amusement of his family.
Triceratops
The evening turned out to be the best collection we had ever
done in Charlton Village, with over £100 more than our previous best. I think this was largely due to the street
party, where one collector actually had a £20 note put into her bucket (I can’t
remember the last time we had one of those). When we had finished, we were all
pretty weary as we trooped back to my house in Charlton Village, where the DG
had prepared supper for us all. The remainder of the evening was very
convivial, as we counted up the evening’s proceeds (manually this time, we did
not have the machine) whilst eating
Shepherds pie and drinking tea. It had all been good fun, as usual.
The team count money manually
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