Rotary at Christmas Part 4 - Notcutts

21 December. Shepperton Aurora Rotary has had a relationship with Notcutts Garden Centre in Staines for a number of years, where they have kindly allowed us to make collections outside the store in the run up to Christmas, whilst for our part we provided the Sleigh for Santa’s arrival at the store (usually in mid-November). For a few years we provided the elves for Santa’s grotto, but in the last couple of years we have provided assistants for Santa himself, a job which we share with our mother club of Shepperton and Sunbury Rotary. I should say that this is entirely with the agreement of Staines Rotary, who couldn’t find the manpower themselves. In return for our voluntary labour Notcutts make a generous donation to our Charity account each year. Thus it is a win/win scenario, whereby the Garden Centre staff do not have to organise assistants for Santa, and we receive a charitable donation. To be honest I was feeling a bit tired this morning, having beenn home late from a Status Quo concert in Brighton the night before, and my ears were still ringing. However I was confident that adrenalin would see me through.

                                                           Rossi and Parfitt - still rocking after all these years

I volunteered for one Grotto session last year, and was very nervous about it. I knew that parents were paying £7.50 per child to see Santa so they would expect a return on this investment. Secondly each child was guaranteed a minimum 5 minutes with Santa. That could feel like an eternity if the child doesn’t want to engage with him. However all my colleagues, who were braver than me, said it would be fine, so I had a go. By the time the fourth child had been ‘processed’ I was relaxed about the whole thing. Santa always found lots of things to talk about and most children were very chatty and told him all about their families and their school, and the time flew by. If the conversation ever faltered, Santa would say’ Are there any questions you would like to ask me?’ This would lead to all sorts of questions, for instance about the time taken to fly here from the North Pole, or maybe how does he find their house? A question that would come up quite often was ‘How old are you?’ Santa’s usual response to this was ‘Well, I stopped counting when I got to 750, so I think I’m a few years older than that.’ Most kids were quite impressed with this, except one little boy, who said ‘My granddad’s older than that.’

                                                  Notcutts Garden Centre Staines

As the board went round looking for volunteers this year, I was happy to put myself down for another grotto session on the Sunday before Christmas, but for some reason I decided to go even further outside of my comfort zone and assist at a ‘Breakfast with Santa’ session. Once again I was very nervous, because this time, instead of dealing with the children in ones and twos I would be thrust into a room full of 30 or so kids, and their parents, grandparents and other family members, to assist Santa in entertaining them. To be honest, the main reason I agreed to do it was the thought of getting a good breakfast out of it. Joe and Laurie tried to allay my fears, telling me that everything goes smoothly and the children are all well behaved.

The ‘Breakfast with Santa’ session was from 9.30 until 10.30 but I was required from 9.00 a.m. I think the reason for this was so that Notcutts knew they had someone there, with time to find a replacement if I failed to appear. However, just like my Rotary colleagues, I was determined not to let Notcutts down, and arrived at 8.55. One aspect I hadn’t realised was that although the children got their breakfast at 9.30, they wouldn’t get to meet Santa until 10.00, which was designed to give them time to finish before Santa arrived. As Santa’s assistant, I was shown to a temporary office where I had to wait until I was summoned. I wasn’t offered any breakfast, neither was Santa. At the allotted time, I was collected from my accommodation and escorted to the Restaurant, where Santa’s arrival was eagerly awaited by 27 children and their families. Santa started going from table to table, meeting all the children, checking whether they had been naughty or nice, checking what they wanted for Christmas and sensibly promising nothing. It was a very hectic half an hour, as besides spending some time with each child, Santa then sat down in an armchair with all the children sitting on the floor in front of him whilst he read them a story, then he handed out individual named presents to each child, and finally paused for the inevitable photo opportunities. It had been an exciting time, the children were well behaved and my colleagues were right – It had been fun.

                                                                         Story book

I didn’t go home after ‘Breakfast with Santa’, as I was staying on for a two and a half hour session assisting Santa in the grotto, starting at 11 a.m. I had been quite looking forward to this, as I enjoyed it so much last year, and I wasn’t disappointed. At 10.55 I was summoned from my office and escorted with Santa to the grotto, where I was informed that they were fully booked for the session. So it was going to be busy, hardly surprising on the last Sunday before Christmas. The Notcutts staff gather some useful information about each child when they make a booking, enabling Santa to know the child’s name, age, whether they have seen Santa before, and whether they have done anything particularly good recently (this information is supplied by the parents). So it is helpful for Santa to know something about the child when they meet, and he can congratulate them for cleaning their room / being helpful to grandma / not arguing with their brothers and sisters etc. The children seem particularly surprised and delighted that Santa already has this information about them.

                                                       Santa in his grotto

In all, Santa saw 27 children during this session, most of whom were happy to have a conversation with him. Some, however were frightened (one I would even describe as terrified) and it was difficult for Santa to give value for the visit. One technique which did work quite well, was to take them outside the grotto, and show them all the toy animals. Immediately outside was a family of baby polar bears, with mummy polar bear. Santa asked them if they could find daddy polar bear. Just around the corner there was an 8 ft polar bear and most children found him. They were also asked to name the various other animals around, including penguins, deer, rabbits and seals.

                                                       Polar bear family

However the majority of children were not afraid of Santa and were happy to confide in him what they wanted for Christmas. A full range of requests were received by Santa, from skipping ropes to X-Boxes. One of the more amusing requests was from a girl who wanted Frozen pyjamas. Santa asked her if she was sure, whereupon her parents started to explain that Frozen was the latest must-see film. I suspect Santa knew that already and was just being mischievous. The two and a half hour session passed all too quickly, really, and soon it was time to go home. As I left I passed Jeremy Edwards on his way for the afternoon session, and wished him well. I doubt if he will have enjoyed it as much as me.