Santa calls at home

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33408, 14 December 1973, Page 5

Santa calls at home

These days you can hire anything—including a Father Christmas. By arrangement. with the Plunket Society he will come to your home for the modest fee of 50c. Mothers for whom the festive season is busy enough without having to take the children to town to see Father Christmas are arranging for him to pay a personal call. It solves the problems of tired children in crowded shops, and even the shyest .child feels more at home with that jolly bewhiskered fellow when he is sitting in the i lounge. And it is all in a good I cause. The hire-a-Father i Christmas service was deI vised by Mrs A. J. Queree,

1 of the Linwood-Avonside sub- . branch of the Plunket Society, as a fund-raising •effort. I i The members of the branch JI have to pay a third of the » salary of the Plunket nurse in their district—about $lOO a month—so they have been busy this year with a cake ; | stall, talent quests, and a z imannequin parade. It is hoped 3 1 that Father Christmas’s jivisits will help to swell the .: coffers. ij The husbands of two members, Mr R. Johns, whose f wife, Mrs Maureen Johns, is ijthe president of the subt branch, and Mr J. Bielawski lihave volunteered to act as I I Father Christmas. : ; They make their rounds by car, but this motorised 1 arrival does not bother the - children they visit. Other ■ road users have been known !to take an interest, and encountering Father Christ-; mas motoring along has ; especially delighted children? passing by. Some families are taking [ advantage of the personal! service by getting their child-1 ren together and having an | informal party. Saturday is a popular day, but Father I Christmas is now in demand | for early evening calls, i Last evening Mr Johns i donned his yuletide disguise i and called on the Martin [family and relatives ini Opawa. He was greeted by al i mixture of great excitement ! land deep suspicion. Big balloon Mr and Mrs C. W. G. Martin played host to Santa, and Mrs Martin’s sister, Mrs J. L. Bryce, brought along her two children. When Mr Bryce arrived his son Dean met him at the front gate with shrieks of: "Daddy, Father Christmas is here.” Shari Bryce behaved with perfect decorum, but her little cousin, Stephanie Martin, would have none of it all. Her only concession to the occasion was to accept a big [balloon from Santa, and keep •a very firm hold on it. The baby, Bret Martin, was prepared to be nursed by this very important person for just the time it took Shari ' and Dean to put in their requests for presents. Mr Johns is just getting the I feel of the job, but he looks the part—if a somewhat slim Santa —and certainly asks the right questions. "Have you been good?” he wants to know. He says he is ! thoroughly enjoying his ■assignment, and finds the “marvellous.”