A SANTA bus will return to the Wee County in December after an “amazing” first night last year.

Set up by Julie Hunter Jack of Hunter’s Coaches, a bus paraded the streets of Clackmannanshire from Menstrie to Tullibody and everywhere in between.

The idea for the bus came to Julie last year when she was thinking of son and how hard the year had been for children due to Covid and the restrictions it brought.

“Last year was the first year that we did the Santa Bus," she told the Advertiser: "It was organised in about 10 days – if you’re lucky – so last year was a bit of a mad dash to get everything up and running.

“We had Santa, Anna, Elsa, Olaf and we decorated it with Christmas lights and things just to go around the communities for the kids.

“Last year was absolutely heaving, the streets were lined from Menstrie right around the Hillfoots.

“I’ve never seen anything like it; it was amazing.”

Despite last year’s event being organised for the children of the local communities to experience some festive joy, Julie said this year the demand was there once again.

She continued: “This year we put a poll back on Facebook and I think we got something like 700 people saying [they wanted it to return] so we’ve been in touch with the council and all that sort of thing and we’ve got permission to do it again.”

“This year, rather than do it all on the one night, because last year it was very rushed, we’re going to do it over two nights. We’ve still to finalise the times and routes.

“Last year, because of Covid, we couldn’t stipulate where we were going to stop whereas this year we’re going to have a more detailed route for people to go there and see Santa, who will get off the bus.”

Julie received enquires last year about donations and so she set up an online page. This year there will be collection buckets with money once again going to a good cause.

She added: “We’re also planning on having collection buckets – we didn’t do it last year – for donations and we’ll be donating that money to a local charity.”

Asked if this could become a yearly tradition, Julie said yes and added she’s always keen to hear any ideas or recommendations.

She added: “It’s definitely something we’re open to, if anyone has any ideas of what they’d like us to do then yes, 100 per cent we’d try to do that for the community.”

Times and routes have not been finalised yet but this year’s Santa Bus will take place on December 16 and 17.

Visit the Hunters Coaches Facebook page for the latest information.