Santa Clause has come to town to greet youngsters in Peterhead.
His elves at Buchanhaven Harbour charity have been hard at work creating their first Santa’s grotto in the Boat Shed community space for youngsters in the run up to Christmas.
Due to popular demand Mr Clause will be visiting the grotto again on December 21 while 200 of the 20 minute slots have been snapped up.
Things are looking a little different to normal in the grotto, though, with volunteers operating pre-booked slots, a one-way system and rigorous cleaning regimes to ensure it complies with measures to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Buchanhaven Harbour charity chairman Alex Donaldson said: “We’ve had a very busy weekend and it’s been absolutely brilliant. Some of the adults looked more excited than the kids.
“We did our risk assessment, followed the guidance and made it happen. We have no more than two volunteers in each room, all socially-distances and everything is wiped down and the whole building fogged to kill all germs at the end of each day. Adults wear masks and there’s no more than six people in a group from two households.”
The team of six trustees, which took over the running of the three-year-old centre in February, say this is just the first step in opening up the Boat Shed for more community use.
“We’ve already opened things up to the community and have 100 volunteers signed up to help in the future. This should have been our first main project and we saw there were so many virtual things happening, but we went through our risk assessment process and decided that if we followed the guidance and put the time and effort in to do everything right, then we could make it happen.
“You could see the kids really excited and happy. There were lots of happy families and that’s what you need at this time and during this climate.
“We believe if we can spread a little cheer with the young kids then it’s well worth the effort.”
There’s currently a waiting list for those hoping to see Santa.
For more information search Buchanhaven Harbour SCIO on Facebook.
