It’s that time of year again and local fire brigades are joining the festive fun with lolly runs around the city.
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Maitland Fire and Rescue received a helping hand from Maitland Greyhounds this year, which sponsored the 80 kilograms worth of lollies for the crew’s events.
They will appear at several parks where kids (and adults) can see Santa and enjoy some treats.
Maitland Fire and Rescue captain Paul Casey said the purpose of the Christmas event was to thank the community for their support.
“Last year during the major bushfires we had people bring bottles of water to the station, so it’s nice to give back,” he said.
“It’s a bit of fun for us. We all have children and grandchildren.
“To see the smiles on the faces of the kids makes it so worthwhile.”
Details on the lolly runs:
Maitland Fire and Rescue
The Maitland crew is visiting local parks with lollies and Santa this year on Tuesday, December 18 and Wednesday, December 19.
On December 18, they will attend Gillieston Heights playground (corner of Champion Cr and Scenic Dr) at 6pm, Wallis Creek Park (Redwood Drive) at 6.30pm, Gillieston Heights playground (Roy Jordan Field) at 7pm and Maitland Sportsground at 7.30pm.
On December 19, they will visit Maitland Park at 6pm, Telarah playground (Bligh Street) at 6.30pm, Lorn playground (The Avenue) at 6.50pm, Lorn Park Bowling Club at 7.20pm and Bolwarra Public School at 7.45pm.
The crew will also be at Maitland Greyhounds’ family day on December 20, which will also involve balloon animals, face painting and 100 gift bags for the first 100 kids.
Bolwarra-Largs Rural Fire Brigade
Bolwarra Largs RFS will be bringing Santa to town on Sunday, December 16 between 4pm and 7pm.
Paterson Rural Fire Brigade
Santa is visiting Paterson with goodies for the kids on Friday, December 21.
The santa run will start at 4:30pm from Paterson Fire Station and will cover most of the Paterson area.
They are going out on the end of the tar on Webbers Creek Road, along Gresford Road until the Dungog turn off, along Martins Creek Road until Keppies Lane and all the streets of Paterson.
Morpeth Fire and Rescue
Santa will be joining Morpeth Fire and Rescue’s fire truck to deliver goodies on Saturday December 22, from about 10am.
Rutherford Fire and Rescue
Santa will visit Telarah, Rutherford and Aberglasslyn from Friday, December 21 to Sunday, December 23.
First is the Telarah area on December 21 starting at about 4.10pm, followed by the Rutherford/Aberglasslyn area on December 22 at about 12pm and the rest of Aberglasslyn/Rutherford on December 23 starting about 10.30am.
The crew will usually only travel up streets once, but for the larger roads (ie Regiment/Wollombi/Aberglasslyn Rds/Denton Park Drive) they will generally do both sides of road.
Times can change if an appliance is called to a job, this will be updated on page if run has stopped.
East Maitland Rural Fire Brigade
After much negotiation with Santa and his elves, East Maitland Rural Fire Brigade will be escorting Santa on lolly runs from Wednesday, December 19 to Friday, December 21.
East Maitland/Rathluba will be first on December 19, followed by Ashtonfield on December 20 and Metford on December 21.
Please visit the individual fire brigades’ Facebook pages for more details on the events. Did we miss a lolly run event? Email the details to sage.swinton@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
Please keep your children off the road during the runs for safety reasons.
Some things to remember from Thornton Rural Fire Brigade Deputy Captain Josh:
- We remain an emergency service and whilst we will do everything we can to keep to our schedule if there is a job it has to take precedence.
- All or our members are volunteers and we give up a lot of hours at this time of year to help Santa get around the local area. This time is given freely, and is all time we spend away from our families.
- All lollies that are thrown to the kids have to be sourced by our brigade. We work hard each year to fundraise especially for Santa’s visit to make sure we have enough lollies for everyone. Each year our area gets bigger and bigger so it is hard to know exactly how many we need, we always hope it’s enough.
- Santa is on a tight time schedule. We do our very best to visit every single street in our area, even as it gets bigger every year. Unfortunately some streets are just too small to turn our trucks around in. Unfortunately sometimes people will be out when we go down their street and they miss us. We apologise for this, but can’t be everywhere all the time.
- Often during the run our social media page is very active with people asking us where we are, telling us they didn’t get out the front in time, or saying they are now home and can we visit their street again. Unfortunately we just don’t have the time to be completing the Santa run as well as answering our phones all day.