Santa visited the streets of Salford last night (Wednesday 3 December), spreading Christmas cheer while fundraising for a local Scouts group.
The 100th Salford St Luke’s Scouts have been raising money for the youth organisation and visiting the streets of Salford each night this week, with some help from Santa.
They will be tackling over a hundred streets in ten days.
Santa arrived by sleigh to Russell Road at 7pm last night, with volunteers lined up to knock on doors and collect spare change to fund scouting activities.
Nathan Talbot, the group lead volunteer for the 100th Salford St Luke’s group, said: “Planning for this pretty much starts after we finished the previous year.
“I generally start sending messages about this after I come back off my summer holidays.”
For the first time, the routes have been publicised online, so that residents can see when Santa will be passing through their area.
Nathan said: “We are just trying to see if we’re making sure that we’re reaching as many people as we possibly can?”
The Scouts movement supports around 400,000 people nationally, with fundraising being crucial to ensure the upkeep and maintenance of the groups.
Nathan said: “For us, we have a hundred young people who turn up to our sessions every week.
Activities like the Santa sleigh help us do things like provide financial assistance to those that need it, which can just a simple thing like paying for them to go on an activity or paying for them to go on a camping weekend.
“It also helps us invest in the group as a whole,” he explained.
Dominic and Patrick, a father-son duo who were out volunteering alongside the sleigh, thought the evening was “amazing.”
Dominic said: “It’s spreading that Christmas cheer, and even if you can’t afford to donate, it’s about just bringing happiness to the neighbourhood and building community.”
Last year, the Scouts group spent several thousand pounds as a result of the sleigh on buying new tents and new catering equipment.
Nathan said: “We can give those young people not just new experiences, but help them go on experiences that build skills for life.”
Nathan took over the sleigh in 2020, and while they weren’t out fundraising that year, they were still out “spreading joy and playing music.”
He said that the “smiles” make it all worth it.
“Yes, there’s a lot of planning, there’s a lot of stress, and there’s a lot of last-minute teething problems that we have to deal with, but when you’re out on the streets and you’re getting poured with rain, you come across a group that have been waiting maybe an hour because they’ve been eagerly waiting to see Santa.”
As well as donations, children are encouraged to bring their letters and have a picture with Santa, too.
Nathan said: “They’ll be bringing out letters or pictures that they’ve drawn, and we’ve even had Santa get given a pack of beer by a family!
“He saved it once he got back to the North Pole, of course.”
Santa stepped down from his sleigh to meet with the volunteers and take photos with the children, as well as accepting letters and reminding them to leave out some mince pies.
He said: “It’s magical. It is very much magical. The volunteers are fantastic. They do a great job raising money for our scout group and the sleigh really put some magic on people’s faces.
“We’ve got lots of people coming out to see the magic of it all, and it is just a fantastic thing to be involved with.
“It’s exhausting along with a full-time job, but it is very good.”
Last year, the sleigh raised £4,500 for the Salford Scouts, and Nathan is hoping to match the number this December.
He said: “If the first night’s anything to go by, then we should be on for a good year again!”
The sleigh travelled from Burnside Avenue to Light Oaks Road, making stops at Moorville Road and Winchester Road, amongst others.
Tonight (Thursday 4 December), Santa and the Scouts will be visiting Park Lane, making their way through Helena Street to finish at Godfrey Road at approximately 8pm.
The full route can be viewed on the Santa Super Sleigh Salford 2025 website here.
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