Santa stunned as collections total £3,600

The annual Christmas appeal, organised by the Littlehampton District Lions’ Club, raised an impressive £3,648.84, which will now go into the group’s charity trust, for needy people.

The Littlehampton Lions praised the residents for their fantastic festive donations, despite the economic austerity facing the nation.

Lion Austen Beard said: “Our final total was magnificent.

“Littlehampton District Lions’ Club would like to say a very big thank-you to the residents of Littlehampton, Rustington and Angmering for their very generous donations to our Christmas appeal.”

As well as touring the area on his charity float with his band of Christmas collectors, Father Christmas held collections outside the Sainsbury’s stores in Rustington and Littlehampton, and at Tesco at Broad Piece, Littlehampton.

The fund-raising drive was rounded off with a visit to Rustington shopping centre the day before Christmas Eve, although the Christmas cheer was almost marred, said Austen, when a traffic warden asked Father Christmas and his float to move away from their normal parking area.

Austen said: “It was silly, really. We had parked the float there, in the same spot, for 15 years.

“We even have a power supply that was installed for us.

“It just meant we couldn’t have the carols playing, like we would have wanted to, which was sad.

“Normally, the kids come running down the road to us when they hear Santa’s in town.”

Austen said that this move could have an impact on the total funds raised, which were similar to last year’s total.

“It’s possible that it might have had an impact,” he said.

“Some people didn’t know we were there.

“But the level of support we received was still fantastic.”