Western News: December 16, 2021

Thursday December 16 2021 11
No rest for Santa’s helpers
• By Fiona Ellis
CHRISTMAS is fast
approaching, but the elves in
Santa’s Workshop are reluctant
to down tools for the holidays.
Martin Thompson leads
volunteers handcrafting wooden
toys for donation to children
who might not otherwise
receive a gift from Santa from
the technology block at Shirley
Intermediate school.
With around 1000 toys now
awaiting the big day, Santa Claus
Workshop Charitable Trust is
officially taking a break until the
school opens again on January
31.
However, Thompson planned
to keep working at home.
“I’ve probably got 10 boxes of
toys to be painted. I’m doing it
over the holidays, and some of
the other guys will be doing the
same,” the 70 year-old said.
In addition to several off-site
workers, the group has a core
of 10 regulars who attend the
workshop twice a week, mostly
retirees.
“All these guys are keen to
come back, they would come all
over the holidays if we let them.”
The toys will be distributed to
families by organisations such as
the Mayor’s Welfare Fund and
children’s charity Pillars.
From trains to tractors and
from penguins to gorillas, a wide
range of toys are crafted using
top quality pine, he said.
Plastics and metals were avoided,
and dowelling rods were
used to turn wheels. The quality
evoked toys from Thompson’s
own childhood.
Even if left outside, the toys
would still last 10 years.
A builder by trade, Thompson
said his involvement in Santa’s
Workshop felt like coming full
circle.
“I love playing with wood,
but it didn’t end up that way – I
ended up playing with concrete.
SATISFYING: Martin Thompson
leads the Santa Claus
Workshop Charitable Trust at
Shirley Intermediate School.
It makes toys to donate to
children.
PHOTO: JOHN COSGROVE
Now I’m back to playing with
wood.”
Thompson is taking over the
reins from Malcolm Westgarth,
“a good man” who passed away
last month after 18 years with
Santa’s Workshop.
Thompson has been involved
in Santa’s Workshop for eight
years.
“I got involved because my
wife decided that I needed
something to do in early parts of
retirement.
“I came along here with a
Thermos flask one day and they
just got me painting.”
Creating toys from scratch
could be a complicated process,
as it took weeks to craft small details
and perfect the paintwork.
This was especially so in the
case of the toys that moved, such
as a rolling gorilla.
“There’s lots of moving parts.
We’ve got a leg, we’ve got a
shoulder, we’ve got three wheels.”
Woodwork came as second
nature to him, but painting the
toys was more difficult, requiring
time and precision.
The Covid-19 pandemic also
posed a difficulty to the volunteers.
“When I came here in 2014, I
think we were making close to
1400 [toys], but of course with
Covid-19 we were shut for five
weeks this year. Last year was
similar, we were cut down a lot.”
Lockdown happened so
quickly they were unable to take
unfinished toys with them to
continue working from home.
The toys the group were
currently crafting were all for
next Christmas.
• Turn to page 12
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