SANTA has set up his grotto at Swindon Children's Scrapstore ahead of a family-friendly festive fundraiser on Saturday (Dec 16).

The event is open to all to attend with something on offer for every age.

From meeting the main man himself for £5, which includes a present, photograph and food, families can also try their luck in a raffle or take a browse over the multitude of Christmas gifts, stocking fillers and other bargains.

The Scrapstore will also be open for people to access resources, where they can fill a basket of non-priced resources for £6 or a trolley full for £15 which includes: children’s toys, games, books, jigsaws, soft toys, craft materials and much more.

People can also purchase items from the Scrapstore arts and crafts shop, refurbished computers and laptops from Project Reboot and household paint from their community repaint scheme.

The money raised on the day will go towards the Swindon Children’s Scrapstore and Scrappers Boxing Gym and Community Fitness projects core running costs as every year the Swindon Scrapstore needs to generate £150,000 to enable the charity to run the five community projects it operates which are all set up to benefit local people and communities.

The charity directly benefits over 80,000 people each year in Swindon through the provision of resources and services they offer.

Olivia McCann, Scrapstore CEO: “The costs associated with relocating the Scrapstore are very costly and in the recent move to our current premises at Unit 7, Bramble Close we spent £13,500 on the building just to make it fit for purpose.

"All of the buildings we have previously occupied have been in poor condition and required money spent on them to make them suitable for use. Unfortunately smaller charities cannot afford the expense rents on newer premises so they have to take what they can get and make do.”

The charity is also fundraising to buy a building to help them become self-sustainable and to ensure the continuation of their service.

The Swindon Scrapstore has been forced to relocate premises four times in the past 10 years due to circumstances out of their control so they would like to find a permanent premise to avoid having to continually move.

The fundraiser will run between 10am and 4pm.