Father Christmas had a new elf recruit at Bents Garden & Home recently after a lady approached the company with a fairly unusual request.
Ruth Thomas wanted to be an elf for the day and Bents helped make her wish come true by offering her the chance to be Santa's special helper at the centre's recent Family Fun Weekend.

Ms Thomas, owner of Room31 wholesale in Culcheth near Warrington, had not celebrated Christmas until the age of 21 but she is now Christmas crazy and embraces the festive season as much as possible each year. This year it was her dream to be an elf and Bents said she took to her role like an expert and spent two very busy days in charge of Santa's reindeer.

Ms Thomas also helped sell hot punch and mince pies, with all proceeds going to The Christie, Bents' charity of the year.

"I had an amazing weekend helping Santa and his reindeer at Bents," she said. "Being able to witness the excitement, belief and delight on the children's faces who were meeting Santa and his reindeer (some of them for the first time) was really special and quite over-whelming. I really do love Christmas and being able to volunteer as an elf whilst raising money for such a great cause and being involved in looking after Santa's reindeer was a dream come true. Thank you to the wonderful team at Bents for looking after me."

Managing director Matthew Bent added: "At first we weren't sure what to make of this request. But when we met Ruth we were bowled over by her enthusiasm and were more than happy to help!

"It's great to meet someone who is so excited about Christmas and we were delighted to be able to help make her dream come true. She was a fantastic elf who got an excellent report from Father Christmas!"