Santa has made a surprise, out of season appearance Ainsdale Beach!

Ainsdale Beach in Southport had a special visitor yesterday as Santa enjoyed some summer holiday fun before he returns back to the North Pole to prepare for his busiest time of the year.

With only 122 days to go until Christmas he enjoyed all the fun of the seaside to the delight of  the children and the adults who had set up camp for the day to enjoy the long awaited sunshine.

Sun-worshipers and families enjoying picnics could not believe their eyes as Santa served ice-creams, chatted with the RNLI, paddled in the sea and wandered along the famous sand dunes.

Children squealed with delight and parents swiftly grabbed  photographs with the most famous man on earth as quick thinking parents reminded their youngers that “Santa is always watching you.

Locally based festive installation and event specialists, The Festive Group, were shooting a promotional campaign on the beach and in the pine woods and decided that post pandemic a fun theme to make people smile would be a great idea.

PR Consultant, Carolyn Hughes from CHPR, who planned the campaign said:

“Reminding people about Christmas in August and September can be a tricky one, so we wanted to make people smile as well as planting the ‘C’ word in their head. We thought that Santa in the woods and on the beach would produce some great images, make people smile and plant the Christmas seed.

“What I didn’t bank on was the beach being so busy and Santa causing such a stir, so a job that should have taken us an hour took two hours by the time the children had got their pictures and given Santa their Christmas lists.  It was fantastic to see so many sand covered excited young faces literally in awe of Santa”.

Santa also showed his cultural side during his seaside trip by stopping off to see the new Paul Curtis installation on the site of the derelict Toad Hall, where  Paul told him the tale of his latest stunning mural  ‘The Sand Lizard’. Whilst the recent rainy weather has held up the finish, the colourful addition to the landscape has already become a hit with the locals and visitors.

The Festive Group based in Liverpool, have created installations ranging from ‘Million Pound Trees’ to family favourites and decorated the homes of the rich and famous creating masterpieces to suit every budget.   Clients include Sharon Osborne, Dawn Ward, Gemma Collins, and Mo Salah, with an equally impressive corporate installation client base including Boodles, LFC, Very, Sophia Webster.

Formby based Operations Manager for The Festive Group, Paul Lally, said:

“Our design and installation teams spend all year preparing festive installations for our domestic and commercial clients.  Every client has different requirements and it is our job to turn memorable places into magical spaces. We are delighted that yesterday’s photoshoot brought so many smiles to so many faces ‘

For further details regarding The Festive Group, click here or call 0151 329 3356.