Members of the Horrabridge Methodist Church and the community have joined forces again to bring Santa's grotto to the village this year for children and families to enjoy.

The event was born out of Covid restrictions last year and John and Emma Emptage and Ali Mansfield wanted to run the event again for 2022 following its success.

Children and families queued down Youldon Way from 4-7pm on Saturday afternoon, eagerly waiting for their turn to see Santa (Alex Sharpe) in his grotto. Elves (Flynn Burke and Rosie Emptage) helped to serve tea, hot chocolates, squash, mini mince pies, gingerbread biscuits and chocolates to people as they reached the front of the queue. After walking through the snow machine, families ventured inside to meet Santa.

Once inside, children received a special gift bag which contained a book, a Christmas story, sweets, colouring materials, candy canes and a blessing.

Local stalwart Tracy Harding sung carols at 5pm with her children, encouraging everyone in the queue to join in.

In addition to Emma, John, Ali, Flynn, Rosie and Alex, the event was made a success with the help of volunteers Vicki and Steve La'Roche, Kelly Wait and Laura Rees.

Methodist pioneer and community worker Ali Mansfield said: 'It's taken a whole day to set up the lights, decorate the grotto, make the biscuits and a month for all of those involved to assemble all the different items for the gift bags. This really is our gift to the community and it's wonderful to see that word of mouth has spread and that once again so many people have come down. It's spread further afield to the Tavistock community this year too.

'None of this could happen without our volunteers, some of whom aren't connected with the Church, which shows the beauty of the church and the community working together, literally just to share love and kindness. It's a great event that we can all join together in our celebration of Christmas.'

Following the strong turnout for this year, the team hope to bring the event back to Horrabridge for 2023.