Tales from Santa's grotto: we chat with the man himself as he gets ready for a busy Christmas Eve

A trip to see Santa is something of a tradition for children at Christmas, a chance to meet the the man himself, tell him how good they've been this year, and lay down a list of what they would like him to bring down the chimney on the 25th.

But for children the length and breadth of the country an 'in-person' visit just hasn't been possible this year, with Covid restrictions either making trips to Santa's Grotto of necessity socially distanced, or putting a stop to them altogether.

But one Santa is making the most of technological wizardry to talk to the children from a safe distance.

John Herrington is usually to be found at Squires Garden Centre in Horsell, but the company has cancelled its Christmas grottoes this year amid concerns over the spread of the virus.

John says he was offered a stint as Santa at a shopping centre further south, but turned it down as he would have had to talk to children from behind a perspex screen.

"I'm an old type of Santa, and I have got to have them on my knee and talk to them," says the very jolly John.

"It's such a shame. So I thought I would carry on with the video chats."

He is one of the most experienced Santas around, having first pulled on the red suit 30 years ago, and has performed the role at all sorts of illustrious places, including Harrods, Debenhams and the O2 Arena, and more recently the Squires garden centres in both Milford and Horsell.

Although he now lives in Horsell, he spent his childhood in Godalming, having been evacuated here as a child during the war.

He's been doing the video Santa chats among friends and a small group of 'regulars' for about six years, and has this year expanded to invite all those children who won't get to see him this Christmas to ask their parents to get in touch via Facebook Messenger to arrange a time for a video call.

He says "quite a few" children in Godalming and the surrounding area have spoken to him online over the years, and he never tires of the joy a video call from Santa brings.

"One little boy did three laps of the sitting room, he was so excited," he says.

"I love to see their faces. I say to them, 'Tell me your name and what you would like for Christmas. But I'm deaf as a post – I'm in my 80s – and I don't hear a word!

"But mum is usually there in the background and they tell me what the child has said. Sometimes they ask me to tell the child to stop using his dummy, or something like that, so they get the present they want."

The present they want varies widely – John, who is a fount of entertaining stories about his time as Santa – tells of the time he was at the O2, with a little girl in front of him who told him she wanted a Palomino pony for Christmas.

"A Palomino pony, can you imagine that?" he chuckles. "So I'm looking at mum and she's nodding her head, so I said to the little girl, 'Yes, you can have a Palomino pony. So she was happy!"

He also tells the heartbreaking story of two little girls who came to visit him and told him they both wanted bikes for Christmas, but as their brother had died that week they weren't expecting anything.

"I went to the shopping centre manager and told him the story, and said 'Look, we've got to do something about this', " he says. "By the end of the week they got their bikes."

"One day I was at the O2 and got there early, so I stopped to have some breakfast, A couple of tables away were a man and a woman, and a boy and a girl. The woman was saying to the boy, 'I'm not buying you a fishing rod because you'll just go down to the canal to fish with it and you'll drown."

"And the boy said his friend had gone down to the canal and caught a 7lb carp."

A bit later this boy comes in and he sat on the end of the bench with his chin in his hand and his mum said he was an unbeliever. I said to him, 'Well you're never going to catch that 7lb carp if you don't believe will you!' and he couldn't believe it - his jaw dropped – and his parents' jaws dropped too!"

It's all part of the magic of Christmas – and if you would like your child to have a call from Santa on Christmas Eve he is ready to spread that magic!

Send John a message via his Facebook page, with the names of the child or children and their ages, and a little bit of info about them, and he will call on Christmas Eve.

"I am doing it for the children so I don't charge," he says. "I just love to see their faces."