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Brick throwers target Xmas run

Sue Carr
7/12/2005

FATHER Christmas is being forced to take 'bodyguards' around Gamesley so he can carry out his street collection in safety.

Thanks to the local mountain rescue team, hundreds of youngsters enjoy the sight of Santa and his sleigh travelling round the streets of Glossop.

But after being pelted with bricks and rocks on the estate last year, the group will now be accompanied by members of Gamesley Residents' Association to try and protect them from trouble.

Adie Hopkinson, a local policeman and member of the mountain rescue squad, says they had considered missing Gamesley off their route this year.

"Some people say, why should we bother? We did talk about stopping, but why should a few yobs spoil it for everyone else?" he said.

"So many people look forward to the sleigh coming round because the kids love it and their little faces light up.

"We don't get trouble anywhere else and it's only last year that it has got this bad on Gamesley. It's really sad because 99 per cent of people want us up there, it's just one mindless group."

This year's collection is especially important as the team need to raise around £65,000 for new premises at the police station on Ellison Street.

Their current base is the fire station which has limited space in which to store their equipment.

Adie added: "The money is not the issue generally but our old hut, which was an eyesore, was knocked down when the new police station was built.

"The fire station is not ideal so we're hoping to raise the money and have the new hut up by Easter."

Santa's sleigh starts from Norfolk Street at 6.45pm on Monday and will tour Gamesley and Charlesworth on Tuesday and Simmondley on Thursday.

The sleigh continues around Shirebrook on Monday, 19 December, and the town centre starting from Victoria Street on Wednesday, 21 December.


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Most recent 1 of 1 user comments

   Glossop Mountain Rescue are a disgrace, using an incident from a few years ago to tarnish a whole community. Gamesley is no worse than any other area in Glossop, but there actions in tarnishing the area, do down the work been done by the Council, Police, Residents Association and other bodies in the area.

I hope that people on Gamesley respond will appropriately and send them away empty handed after there attack on the estate.
Tony Edwards, Hyde
8/12/2005 at 11:05
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