Santa's Grotto raises over £2,700 for Lighthouse Project

Date published: 15 January 2019

Santa’s Grotto in Middleton Shopping Centre raised more than £2,700 for the Lighthouse Project Middleton.

The Grotto opened on 24 November 2018 with children visiting Santa receiving an early Christmas gift and all proceeds being donated to the local community drop-in.

Assistant Centre Manager, Anna Ramsden had the pleasure of presenting a cheque for £2,778.70 to Carl Roach, The Lighthouse Project Development Manager, on Saturday (12 January).

Mr Roach said: "We are really grateful for the support that the families who visited Santa's grotto, or had breakfast with Santa in various cafes in the Middleton Shopping Centre, have given in support of the Lighthouse Project.

“This is the third year that we have received donations this way, with the previous two years donations going towards the building of our kitchen and coffee bar area, which we use to serve refreshments to our visitors, and for running basic cooking and tasting sessions.

“It is so encouraging that as the community supports us, so we are able to offer more support back to them through the things that we are able to do.

“As the donation only came in at the weekend we are still considering how it can best be put to use, that said however we have started two new projects in the last two months; Lighthouse Money Advice, a free to use debt service, and also the Lighthouse Pantry, which is a membership food club designed to help people reduce their food costs and keep more money in the household, so one option is to use the donation to help us develop these projects.

“In the next six months our main Lighthouse Project funding reaches the end of a three-year cycle and as such we are in the process of making funding bids to cover the next three years beyond the summer.

“This is helping us to think through different ways that we can keep, and increase, the support we receive from the wider community to help us fund our ongoing activities."

Find out more about how the Lighthouse can help you, or you can help the Lighthouse:

• www.lighthouseproject.org.uk