Santa's heading for York - and he's set to raise hundreds of pounds for our Hospice 2000 Appeal.

A new grotto is now taking shape for Father Christmas in Stonegate Walk, and the man in red will be arriving not by sleigh but a horse-drawn carriage to meet his first children on Saturday.

Parents will pay £2 for their child's admission, with 50p from each entry fee going to the appeal to raise £2 million to build a major extension to St Leonard's Hospice, York. Each child will receive a Christmas teddy bear.

The grotto saves the hopes and dreams of thousands of York children after the Co-op's Victoria House, which used to house the best grotto in the North, closed down last year.

The Evening Press helped organise an alternative grotto last Christmas on the patio of York Theatre Royal, but that was a "one-off" event and children could have missed out this year until Stonegate Arcade agreed to organise a grotto in a vacant unit.

Gardencare, of Malton Road, has provided a cabin to house Santa, and the grotto, including sleigh and lots of trees, have been arranged by freelance artist David Kettley and his helpers.

An appeal by Santa in last Saturday's Dick Turpin column for elves to help him distribute presents resulted in several applications, including one from an entire family.

The grotto will be open to the public on Saturday from noon to 4pm, and will open every subsequent Saturday until Christmas from 11am to 4pm. It will also be open every weekday from Thursday, December 10, until Christmas Eve from 2pm until 5pm.

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