SANTA paid an early visit to villagers in Townhill as the community council held its sleigh event.

Residents took to the streets on December 6 to share Christmas cheer in their community while Santa travelled down Kent Street in his sleigh giving out gift bags to the kids.

Ronnie Cowan, chair of Townhill Community Council, told the Press: "We decided to repeat what we did last year when we had COVID restrictions and we couldn't hire the community centre to have the annual kids' party.

"It was such a success last year with the sleigh I built, it was more inclusive and because we now cover Kent Street, it meant we were able to cover the whole area of Townhill. We gave out a lot of gift bags and the general store owner, Nadeem, he donated a lot of sweets and also there was refreshments for our elves that he catered for."

It was a well-attended event, with people even making their way from neighbouring villages.

He said: People actually arrived from Kelty, Ballingry and Oakley so there was an awful lot more people than anticipated, it was inclusive and a lot of the wee ones love Santa.

"The wee ones that we see, the families aren't that well off so it was nice, if nothing else to make them smile and give them some sweets."

The event was free with no collections taking place, it was funded by the community council and made possible by them and their volunteers.

One volunteer on the night was Councillor Gavin Ellis, who has been an elf for the community council for six years now.

He said: "The role of Santa’s elf is one I picked up back in 2017 and I really enjoy spending the evening out with the group, in fact we also have the toddlers' event coming up and it will be time to elf again.

"Townhill Community Council make a real effort every year and it’s to be applauded the level of work that goes into the event."