THE STREETS of Farnham have again been filled with Christmas music and bright lights, with Santa making his last tour of the town tonight (Thursday) before going back to oversee final preparations for Christmas Eve.

This year, Farnham Round Table has chosen to give all the money raised on Santa’s Sleigh tour to the Farnham food bank.

Club chairman Nick Shelton said: “In a tough year, it was more important than ever to help Santa visit households in Farnham.

“Santa even asked us to add extra routes so he could see more children.

“It’s been brilliant to see so many people lining the streets and the funds raised will make a huge difference to those families hit hardest this year.”

Having already visited Folly Hill, South Farnham, The Chantrys, Heath End and Rowledge over the past week, Santa will greet families tonight in central Farnham before heading back north.

Details of the route, a message from Santa, online donations and a new live Santa tracker feed are available on the Round Table website at www.FarnhamRoundTable.org.uk/Santa-Sleigh

Round Table’s Jon Bishop added: “With Tier 2 restrictions in place, we’ve made some changes this year including limiting the number of helpers and not knocking on doors.

“Our new live tracker will help make sure nobody misses us and our online donation page has helped people donate at a distance.”

The sleigh itself has been another big community effort with many local groups and companies helping out including local schools, Hawthorns, the fire station, Farnham 41 Club, Farnham Rotary and the mayor of Farnham who came out to meet Santa on his first Farnham outing this year.

Santa said: “Of course I wasn’t going to let a pandemic get in the way of Christmas!

“The elves are being extra careful this year at the workshop and have had to work extra hard with social distancing in place, but the reindeer have been elf-isolating in preparation and everything is still on track for Christmas Eve.”

Farnham Round Table is a club for men aged 18 to 45 that meets fortnightly to socialise and raises money for the local community through events like the annual Farnham Charity Bike Ride, the Farnham Town Fireworks and the annual Santa Sleigh.

The club is always looking to welcome new members and details can be found at www.FarnhamRoundTable.org.uk