Banstead Rotary raise £12,675 for charities over Christmas

A group of volunteers at Banstead Rotary Club have raised a magnificent £12,675 for local charities over the Christmas period thanks to the generosity of Banstead!.

Banstead Rotary’s main Christmas activity is the Santa Sleigh which tours around the streets of Banstead Village, Nork, Tattenhams and Preston Hall from November 29th for three weeks up until Christmas.

The Santa Sleigh has been running for a great number of years since the 1950s and is a popular festive feature in the community.

Returning for the Christmas period, Santa and his charity partner elves raised £10,675.

Other Christmas activities this year included participation in the Banstead Village Christmas Shopping Evening with the Club’s Santa magically switching on the lights.

The Club also organises supermarket collections and this season they were at Waitrose Banstead and at ASDA in Burgh Heath.

These activities plus Gift Aid resulted in bringing the total of the raised funds to over £12,675.

Some of the charities to benefit include Home Start , Dyscover,The Sunnybank Trust, Age Concern Banstead,Macular Society, Live at Home, National Autistic Society Surrey, Epsom and Ewell Foodbank, Epsom and Ewell Talking Newspaper, East Surrey Talking Newspaper, Diamond Riding School, Q.E.F, Princess Alice Hospice, Crossroads Care Surrey.

The distribution of the funds to charities took place at Cuddington Golf Club over a celebration dinner on 19th February.

David Martin, the President of the Club, said: “We have just put our sleigh away for next year with the satisfaction of completing another successful year in fundraising.

"For us Rotarians it is very important to support local charities with our fundraising and know that we are helping those in need. What is more we have fun, too!

"We thank everyone who has supported us during this period and we are grateful to Waitrose Banstead and ASDA in Burgh Heath for giving us the opportunity to do collections.

"We would love to see more people joining Rotary. We have a friendly and welcoming Club and want to extend an invitation to everyone who is interested in learning about how Rotary makes a difference in our community. All are welcome and just contact us via www.bansteadrotary.com”