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Father Christmas will be making socially distanced visits to Bedwas, Trethomas, Machen, Graig y Rhacca and Waterloo this December to deliver gifts to children.

The visits will take place as part of Operation Santa BTM 2020, which has been set up by residents to spread festive joy this Christmas.

The aim of the initiative is to give a Christmas ‘goody bag’ to more than 4,000 children in Bedwas, Trethomas, Machen, Graig y Rhacca and Waterloo.

Gifts will be left outside each child’s house to be collected, due to social distancing precautions.

Father Christmas and Mother Christmas will be visiting Bedwas on Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13, before heading to Trethomas on Tuesday, December 15 and Wednesday, December 16.

They will then be touring Upper Graig y Rhacca on December 17 and Lower Graig y Rhacca and Waterloo on December 18, before heading to Machen on December 19 and 20.

Gifts will be delivered by volunteers between 6pm and 8pm each night.

BTM community councillor Amanda McConnell, who’s one of the organisers of the event, said: “All the goody bags are packed and ready and are now being organised.

“We have our safety volunteers and elf volunteers, as well as Father Christmas and Mother Christmas, but we still need someone to tow Santa.”

A trailer is in the process of being converted into a sleigh for the events.

Anyone interested in volunteering can get in touch with the Operation Santa team by visiting obv.sr/opsbtm