Santa Claus opens new room at Bishops Green Village Hall

Santa Claus himself brought the magic of Christmas to the villages of Bishops Green and Ecchinswell.

The Ecchinswell Bell Restoration Trust’s annual sleigh procession – which has now been running for the past decade with help from volunteers and John Coleman from Newbury Lions – set out on Friday, December 13, through the roads of Bishops Green, with Santa meeting children on his way towards the Royal Oak in Ecchinswell.

This year the charity was supporting West Berks Foodbank and was asking the community to donate food or essential items to help families in need this Christmas.

The trust’s treasurer Loz Wooldridge said: “It was lovely to see so many children and families come out to support this annual event and the donations given that evening to West Berks Foodbank were amazing.”

After visiting the Royal Oak, Santa made his way back to Bishops Green Village Hall where the Bishops Green Community Association was in full festive spirit with its Christmas fair.

Santa officially opened the new wellbeing/treatment room in the hall and enjoyed a quick wash and blow dry by one of the residents and local hairdresser Aimee Alexander from Ava-Jane Hair.

Bishops Green Community Association secured funding from the Rural England Prosperity Fund in order to renovate a room into a modern wellbeing space, providing opportunities for local professionals to work and residents to have access to services such as hairdressers, beauticians and podiatrists which they otherwise may be isolated from due to living in a rural village.