REINDEER - A SUCCESS WITH LOCAL FAMILIES

At the beginning of December, volunteers from Men’s Shed were busy creating Wooden Reindeer kits for children of Midsomer Norton. They produced just over over 60 kits, using their own facilities at home due to being unable to access their workshop in Farrington Gurney, and generously donating their own timber supplies.

Staff from Midsomer Norton Town Council put together bags of pom poms, glittery pipe cleaners, bells and green ribbon; the Town Council colour.

The Reindeer were advertised on our website, on social media, in the local press and in Midsomer Norton Life magazine. Over 120 people applied for a Reindeer, and lucky winners were pulled from a Christmas stocking by Mayor Lynda Robertson on December 14th. The Mayor wore a reindeer mask and antlers and winners were announced in a video on the Town Council Facebook page. Children photographed their finished reindeers and the Town Council shared the herd on their website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

We were grateful for the positive feedback from some of the applicants and winners. John Mountford said: “What a great idea to help us all over this difficult period. Plus, it is a project to get adults and children creative together.” Bex Guy commented: “It's so kind what the Men's Shed did.”

Gemma Ford also wanted to say thank you: “What a fantastic initiative for our community. Well done Men’s Shed and Town Council, this will bring some much needed Christmas cheer. Thank you for such a great family time initiative. Merry Christmas and here's to a happier 2021. Many thanks for such a fun afternoon.”

Lots of children had great fun making their reindeer, and Jemma Soper thought it was “A fab Christmas Eve activity.” Sally Tarn won a reindeer for her 4 year old grandchild and wrote: “Just want to say what a lovely idea - supplying the wooden reindeer packs for the children to complete. Thank you for helping to make Christmas a little more normal for our little ones during this pandemic. Thank you again to the Town Council for doing such a lovely thing for the children of Midsomer Norton and we really appreciate all the hard work you all do for us all.”

The Town Council hope that our ‘Make a Wooden Reindeer’ packs went a little way to helping children in our community celebrate Christmas, after the disappointment of being unable to host the Children’s Christmas Party and Cinema Night this year.