Bringing Christmas to the elderly with the Southmead Carol Bus

The snow may have been fake, but it was pretty cold, which is why this photographer's hands were shaking so much, no doubt. The picture shows me, Santa and "Santa's Little Helper" , in the hat, towering over Santa.

This evening, I was invited to join Cliff Howell on his Southmead Carol Bus as it visited elderly people's homes in North West Bristol. It really was an honour. Every year Cliff drives the carol bus to a number of homes, and Father Christmas goes in and visits the elderly residents personally.

Although the aim of the evening was simply to bring some Christmas to those who may otherwise not have much in the way of festivities, I was also holding the collecting tin. All money raised tonight and on Friday night's Southmead Tour will go to local community projects and charities.

I've said before that pictures speak 1000 words. I'm not sure in that case how many words videos speak, but I suspect it's a lot more. So since I'm now obsessed with embedding youtube videos into everything, I'll let these do the talking, and leave you with a very fine picture of the Carol Bus's very own Santa's Little Helper. ( sorry, SLH, I couldn't resist!)