Howgate Santa hands over gift to Forth Valley Sensory Centre

Santa Claus continued spreading cheer across the district with a generous donation to a very special cause.
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Thanks to everyone who visited his grotto in the Howgate Shopping Centre in 2019, centre staff were able to hand over a cheque for £1000 to Forth Valley Sensory Centre.

Howgate bosses had pledged £1 from every visit to Father Christmas in the run up to December 25.

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Last Friday, Santa took some time away from his well-earned January break to head back to Falkirk and join in the presentation ceremony.

Margaret Foy, the Howgate marketing manager, said: “We are all delighted to be able to hand over this grand total to Forth Valley Sensory Centre.

“We appreciate all the work the centre does for our community and we are very happy to help its work with this contribution.”

Thanking everyone for the cheque, centre manager Jacquie Winning said: “Forth Valley Sensory Centre is absolutely delighted to receive this donation of £1000 from The Howgate.

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“It was also great that Santa learned some British Sign Language so that he could speak to deaf children and its wonderful that The Howgate make such efforts to be sensory friendly.”

She added that the money would go towards the centre’s fund for a new minibus, saying: “Providing transport to enable blind and deaf people to access our services is a vital part of what we do.”

Last year the shopping centre approached Forth Valley Sensory Centre to find out how they could assist visitors with vision and hearing impairments.

The Howgate team are happy to act as guides, and assistance dogs are welcome within the centre.

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