Santa’s sleigh will be coming through Newbury, Thatcham, Burghfield and Bishops Green in December thanks to Newbury Lions Club

Santa will be bringing his sleigh through West Berkshire next month.

Helped by his friends at Newbury Lions Club, he will be making his way around Newbury, Thatcham, Burghfield and Bishops Green from next week.

He begins his tour of the towns in Burghfield on Monday (December 2), before heading through Thatcham on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (December 3, 4 and 5).

The sleigh will follow a published route each evening, stopping eight times along the way for children to get up close to Santa this festive season.

And we can now bring you the route of the first day in Thatcham. It will include stops in Falmouth Way, Agricola Way, Wheelers Green Way, Station Road and finally Thatcham Broadway.

You can see the full list, with timings, below or on the Newbury Lions Christmas Cheer Facebook page.

The route for the second day will be released later today (Thursday) and the third day will be revealed on Friday.

Newbury’s routes will be released next week.

Newbury Lions, which took over the Santa Sleigh in 2019, said they hope that the routes provide a viewing spot close enough to most homes for as many people to get out and see Santa as possible.

The sleigh will be out and about from 5pm until 8pm on each visit and organisers say they’ll be trying to keep Santa on schedule as much as possible, but may be delayed if large numbers of people are at each stop.

You will be able to follow his progress in real-time on the night by searching for Newbury Lions Christmas Cheer on Facebook.

The event aims to raise money for the Lions’ Mind the Gap fund, which is currently running on The Good Exchange.

People can also bring along donations of any dry packaged or canned foods, which the Lions are also collecting during the Santa visits for the West Berks Foodbank.

The Mind the Gap fund aims to provide support to families in need for items that aren’t readily available through existing charitable organisations, such as children’s school shoes.

Santa will also be stopping off with his sleigh at Tesco in London Road, December 8, and at Tesco Pinchington Lane on December 22.

He will be manning the Kennet Centre grotto again – after a successful first visit during the Newbury Christmas lights switch on – on December 14, from 12pm-4pm.

Here children will get to meet Santa, have their photo taken with him and get a small gift, courtesy of Newbury BID.

The Lions do not charge for this but ask anyone who is able to, makes a small donation, which will go straight to the welfare fund. There will also be a lucky dip – costing 50p – to boost the coffers too.

Newbury Lions is always looking for new members to join its ranks.

They admit to being a “small and ageing club” and are urging people who would like to see things such as the Santa visits continue into the future, to get in touch with them now.

You can email the club president, Adrian Ho, at president@newburylions.org.uk for more details.