The grotto made a welcome return in 2022 following a break in 2021 due to high covid numbers and concern for public welfare. Santa was on excellent form over two weekends following his attendance at the Christmas Parade to switch on the Christmas tree lights.
Living Lerwick organised the grotto in the offices previously used by RSM UK on Commercial Street, and transformed the reception space into a winter wonderland for Santa to welcome more than 290 bairns over four days.
Volunteers from the Lerwick Ladies Lifeboat Guild assisted Santa to hand out gifts to all those who came along and today’s donation is in thanks for their support.
A small percentage of the income was used to cover the cost of gifts, along with a contribution from Living Lerwick. All gifts were bought locally from Harry’s Department Store who support the grotto each year it is arranged.
Living Lerwick Project Manager Emma Miller said “We were so pleased to be able to bring the grotto back this year as it’s so popular with the bairns. They all know we have the real santa and he just fairly loves his Lerwick grotto weekends as a break before Christmas!
“The support we get from the Lerwick Lifeboat ladies is just fantastic and we want to thank them very much for the time they put in to help raise this money for our local lifeboat, which delivers Santa each year to the parade. We’d also like to thank RSM for allowing us to use their building and Harry’s for their help in supplying the hundreds of gifts.”