Longford winter wonderland: Sleigh bells ring at Lisryan Santa dash

Once again Lisryan did not disappoint with their Annual Santa Dash for the young and the old in the village and surrounding communities.

Santa and Mrs Claus arrived in style on their sleigh to start the kids and parents on a 3km trail which ended up at Santa’s Grotto in the courtyard of Murphy’s, Crossroads Inn.

The children were delighted to visit the main man in his grotto, see his animals in their home next door and enjoy the festivities with snow on the way in.

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The Christmas market stall owners were kept extremely busy selling their wares. The talent and craftsmanship shown with the goods for sale was second to none and a great tribute to all involved. There was definitely a lot of happy customers on the day.

A photo booth was set up by our local professional photographer, Joan O’Brien where she too was kept on her toes all day taking some amazing family photos.

Tea/Coffees and Mulled wine were freely available from the tea station superbly managed by Linda, Faustina and Sabina. They too were kept busy during the course of the day and lest we forget to mention the fantastic festive treats baked for us as always by Faustina Rogers. All her home baked goodies are just amazing and kept everyone both young and old happy for the day, let’s not mention the waistbands!

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A raffle was held towards the end of the day with some fabulous prizes finding homes near and far.

The organising committee would like to thank all who helped in making the day such a success, the stewards who braved the misty morning, the sleigh driver, the committee members for giving up their time to organise the event and ensure Santa and Mrs Claus had a grotto to move into for the day, the ‘snowman’ who kept the snow falling, hosts at the hospitality tables, raffle ticket sellers, sponsors of the spot prizes, our professional photographer who gave her time for free and donated all monies made back to the village, and each member of the committee for their time and hard work throughout was has been a very busy year for the village and surrounding community. I do hope I haven’t forgotten to mention anyone here.

Last but by no means lastly, a huge depth of gratitude to all who registered their children to see the man himself and who contributed to the day. Thanks for your continued support and we look forward to informing you of the 2025 Lisryan events calendar in the coming month or so.

On behalf of the committee I would like to wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful and Healthy Christmas.

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