Bay Harbour: December 22, 2021

Bay Harbour News Wednesday December 22 2021
10
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
SANTA’S HELPERS: Martin Thompson leads the Santa
Claus Workshop Charitable Trust in making toys to donate
to children. Above, Andrew Grant (left), Alistair McDonald
and Neil Pugh are already making toys for next Christmas.
PHOTOS: JOHN COSGROVE
Keeping the tradition of wooden toys alive
• By Fiona Ellis
CHRISTMAS IS fast
approaching, but the elves in
Santa’s Workshop are reluctant
to down tools for the holidays.
Co-ordinator 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
taking a break until the school
opens again on January 31.
However, Thompson plans 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.
Plastics and metals were
avoided, and dowelling rods
were used to turn wheels. The
quality evoked toys from his own
childhood, Thompson said.
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.
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 a part of
the 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,”
Thompson said.
Woodwork came as second
nature to him, but painting the
toys was more difficult, requiring
time and precision.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction when you see a toy finished
. . . it’s worth it.” – Martin Thompson
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.
Toys for this Christmas were
collected from the workshop in
November by Lions Club members,
who then co-ordinated the
donations.
This meant the volunteers did
not often see the responses of the
children, but they had received
heartwarming feedback in the
past, Thompson said.
He had been told of a boy who
was overwhelmed to learn he
could keep his toy and said he
had never been given a present
before.
Another time, he gave a toy
truck to a family with a boy
and a girl. The girl sent him a
thank-you letter containing three
M&Ms.
“I’d given it to her little brother,
but she said ‘thank you very
much for the toy, I will get the
most use out of it’.”
All toys were popular, but the
volunteers tweaked their range
each year. The intricate toy sewing
machines would not be made
next year.
However, Thompson had a
new design for “gorgeous” stacking
tower blocks, and toy boats
were also being made.
New volunteers were welcome
and no background in woodwork
was necessary, although
those involved tended to be good
with their hands.
Santa’s other volunteers included
Neil Pugh, a former Lions
Club member for 34 years who
was awarded a QSM in 2020 for
his work with Lions recycling
spectacles to the Pacific region,
and Alistair McDonald, a former
woodwork teacher who joined
six months ago because he enjoyed
the sense of purpose.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction
when you see a toy finished . . .
it’s worth it,” Thompson said.
IN PRODUCTION: Neil
Pugh, of Heathcote, in
the workshop at Shirley
Intermediate School.
PHOTO: JOHN COSGROVE