Does any one remember


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Does anyone remember when it was getting near Christmas in Long Eaton, and Santa would drive up in his sleigh to the old Coop,where there would be hundreds of people gathered with children of all ages including me ,waiting for him to throw sweets out to all and sundry. Then he would go to the top floor of the store to his grotto, what ever has happened to those days when it is supposed to be Goodwill to all men,will we ever get them back, do they still exist somewhere? If anyone knows please let me know. I would like to move there

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!englandflag!

I left Nottingham (born & bred) in late 80's & I now live in Littlestone (sometimes called Littlest one)on the Romney Marsh in Kent, every year the local Lions & Rotary clubs have a Santa sleigh that goes around all the New Romney area, throwing out sweets, Santa talks to the kiddies (small & big), who can climb onto the slowmoving sleigh, at the same time his Elves (small & big) run alongside with collection tins for local charities.

This happens in the last week before Christmas, never earlier, & puts everyone in the Christmas mood, as Santa has been known to accept a 'dram or two', it can get quite interesting as he tends to sing later in the evening!!! !cheers!

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I well remember going 'Dahn Tahn wiv me mom' to see Santa arrive at the CooP on Upper Parliament Street, then upstairs to see him in his Grotto, where for a few bob one could sit on his knee, and then recieve a piece of tat made in Hong Kong, as a 'gift'

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Hey Tich - I certainly do! My dad worked for the Long Eaton Coop - so anything "Coop" was a big deal in our house! Later on, when I was at the Grammar School, I worked as the "order boy" at the Coop on Grasmere Road (we lived on Douglas Road) and the run up to Christmas was always a big deal - and also meant a lot of overtime for me! When school broke up for the holiday, I would work everyday - and loved every minute. On several occasions, when it got really busy, I would be sent to the main Coop office (on Station Street) with a box full of cash to pick up additional change - I often wonder if anybody suspected the young lad on his order bike had about 500 quid in the box in front!

Happy days!

As to the "goodwill to all men" - here it is pretty much non-existant - but when we visited England for Christmas a couple of years ago we spent the first couple of days in London. The first evening (December 23rd), we were walking down Regent Street when suddenly EVERYBODY stopped! Mary said "what's going on?" - "It's snowing" I replied! It was pure magic - and, despite the fact it was packed, everybody seemed in a good mood and very friendly - we stopped in a pub for a drink and the atmosphere continued! So maybe, from time-to-time, the goodwill does come out - I think, in the end, it is human nature.

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Santa at the Co-op You say.

When I worked for the NCS in the late 60's I remember that Santa Grotto Coop House Parliament Street was actually a moonscape.

To get to Santa you had to walk through a Rocket.

I took a walk through the pretty impressive construction and stepped out on to the moon.

The first creature I saw as I stepped out was the co-op ratcatcher from Meadow Lane Nottingham!

and the first words I heard were something like What the F....! are you doing here.

Dr Livingstone I pressume?...

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