Rotary Club and Santa raise £15k for charity

The club today declared this a magnificent achievement by Wiganers. President Maureen Bilsbrough said: “I would like to thank everyone along the floats routes each evening and in the supermarkets for their terrific generosity, which will enable Wigan Rotary Club to support local, national and international charities to which we are committed. This support is an amazing testament for us and will encourage us to try even harder in 2017.

“We are extremely grateful for everyone’s generosity. All the helpers are volunteers who willingly give up their time and our only expenses are for maintenance of the float, petrol for the generator, and insurance, the members of the club meet all the other costs.

“We would also like to thank our sponsors, other local businesses that have helped and Wigan Council whose directors and staff from finance also helped to fill the coffers. There was valuable support from local groups and clubs including the newly formed Rotary Interact Club, the local Asda and Tesco, staff at The Galleries and the town centre manager, who all offered venues to facilitate collections, plus last but not least, the invaluable support of local press who promote our activities throughout the year. What a wonderful example of community engagement.”

Wigan Rotary meets on Thursdays at 12.30pm at the Owls at Standish. It welcomes new members both men and women. For details contact Colin Wilkinson on 01942 742692 or visit www.wiganrotaryclub.org.uk