Banbury family convert garage into grotto to spread festive joy this Christmas

Prabhu and his family in their roles as the Santa Claus family alongside neighbour Daisy Hone who directed traffic as a helpful elf.

Community hero and owner of the Banbury Lunch Box Project charity, Prabhu Natarajan and his family wanted to make sure no child in Banbury went without toys, food, and festive joy this Christmas, so they kindly opened their garage as a free Santa’s grotto to all local families.

The family spent the last month and a half collecting food and gifts to distribute, as well as transforming their garage on Kenilworth Road into a magical grotto to make sure families that are struggling still have the best Christmas possible.

Prabhu said: "After seeing people write on the Banbury Facebook community pages that they are struggling, I thought, why don’t we convert our whole garage into a Santa’s grotto and invite anyone struggling to just come and enjoy Santa, eat mince pies and every child will receive free gifts?

Prabhu and his wife Shilpa in their roles as Mr and Mrs Claus, spreading joy to families in need this Christmas.

"We were very fortunate to be able to raise over 700 gifts for the children and over 40 food packets, which were generously donated by by friends and family of Rowan Ridley of the Banbury Bike and Car Meet and Jonathan Wise of DrainWise Services."

Prabhu took on the role of Santa Claus, while his wife Shilpa dressed as Mrs Claus, and even the neighbours got involved, getting into character as an elf and a reindeer, while a DJ played all of the Christmas classics.

Prabhu said: "109 children came to the grotto and we made sure we gave at least three to four gifts to every child. It was unbelievable, we never expected so many people to come.

"I know many families are struggling at this time of year, but this Christmas we wanted every family to be happy. At this festive time, it's very good to help each other and look out for friends and family."

Prabhu and his family still have around 50 toys left over from yesterday, these will now be donated to the Banbury Baby Bank to ensure more children don’t go without a present this Christmas.