IF it hadn’t been for Santa’s helpers, there would have been snow sweet sleigh ride in Petersfield.

The trip around the town to hand out sweets to youngsters was arranged by Petersfield Round Table, but a last minute bah humbug almost led to a Christmas cancellation.

The day before the tour on Saturday, December 10, was meant to start, the Round Tablers were told the sleigh they had booked would be going elsewhere and couldn’t come to Petersfield.

Round Table area chairman Andy Guest said: “On the Friday we were told the sleigh wasn’t coming, which was a disaster.

“We tried getting one from somewhere else, but in the end I had to call Round Table members and myself, Alex Gadsden and James Pike decided the only thing we could do was build one; we had a trailer and drew up a list of bits we needed, and got to work.”

The team -- think Scrap heap Challenge meets Top Gear, said Andy – worked through Friday night and into Saturday, finishing just before Santa and his 10 Elves were due to set out at 4pm.

The tour, the first in many years, was promoted on Facebook and a website, and was a test run to gauge it’s popularity.

Andy said: “The buzz was amazing and it seemed wherever we went people, parents as well as children, were out to welcome Santa.

“On Cranford Road there must have been getting on for 70 youngsters, and it was the same everywhere. We are already planning next years’ Santa’s Sleigh Ride, it’s going to be bigger and tour more of the town.”

As well as giving out sweets, the Elves also collected more than £1,000 for local charities during the weekend ride about, and at a Santa’s Grotto in the town.