Making sure Santa’s magic would reach the children of Falkirk

When it came to Christmas, we were determined that COVID-19 would not be denting the Christmas spirit. To spread festive cheer across the area, we reopened the Hippodrome cinema with a feast of festive favourites and welcomed audiences to almost sell-out (at 2m social distancing) screenings of It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf and The Snowman. Although Santa was unable to visit in person, he did manage to magically deliver a special on-screen message for our younger audience members. Before Christmas, Artist David Powell donated a stunning bespoke, locally crafted unicorn sculpture to the Helix Park, home of the Kelpies. Part of the Meet Your Maker project run by Historic Environment Scotland and Craft Scotland, the unicorn has been named Spirit of Scotland and is made of the metal armature and woven with white willow. Staff at Callendar House also worked hard to sprinkle Christmas magic, and the House looked seasonally spectacular, welcoming over 600 customers to enjoy our Festive Afternoon Tea offer. We could not deliver the Callendar House Christmas Adventure, but Santa Claus and Mrs Claus kindly took time out from their busy Christmas preparations to record readings of various stories, including The Stick Man and The Gruffalo’s Child and The Gruffalo’s Wean by the outstanding Julia Donaldson. Santa then asked our team to ensure his stories reached as many children as possible by sharing them on Falkirk Community Trust’s social media channels. Within days over 1.3 million children (and possibly their parents too) had enjoyed Santa’s bedtime stories. “Me and my daughter love watching these.” Facebook “They are wonderful. Thank you so much for doing this for us.” Facebook