THE Rotary Santa sleigh has become well known in the Radcliffe area, bringing joy to families at Christmas time for more than 35 years.

But this year's Santa rounds are in jeopardy because the old sleigh has failed its MOT.

The Rotary Club of Radcliffe is in "desperate" need of a new float ahead of Christmas 2019.

Les Monger, a past president of Radcliffe Rotary, said: "After 35 years of Santa’s sleigh coming round the streets of Radcliffe at Christmas it would be unthinkable if it didn’t happen in 2019.

"Our old outfit is no longer fit for purpose, so we need to replace it. We have been fortunate to receive grants from both the Council Social Capital Fund and the Pitch, but we are still a bit short of our target.

"We are doing everything we can to make sure Santa’s sleigh will be coming round this year so we are reaching out to the public and local businesses to see if they can help us get over the line."

Over the past 13 years, the sleigh rounds have helped raise a huge £105,000 for the Rotary Club.

In October last year, the Bury Times announced that the club required £10,000 to help them continue providing the festive sleigh rounds year on year.

Since then, the club has been awarded a grant of £2,500 from the Bury Council Social Capital Fund as well as £1,500 through Bury Council's Pitch funding.

They have also been offered help to build the sleigh at a cost of materials only.

To enable the work to go ahead, they need to raise a further £3,000.

To donate visit https://wonderful.org/appeal/newsleighforsanta-681c7451.