Christmas is a time for granting wishes and making dreams come true which is why Bents Garden & Home was more than happy to help when approached with a fairly unusual request.

Ruth Thomas, owner of Culcheth-based Room31 wholesale, wanted to be an Elf.  And Bents helped make that wish come true with the offer for Ruth to be Santa’s special helper at the Centre’s recent Family Fun Weekend.

Having not celebrated Christmas until the age of 21, Ruth is now Christmas crazy and goes all out to celebrate in every way possible. This year it was her dream to be an elf and once kitted out with her festive uniform and rosy red cheeks, Ruth took to her role like an expert and spent two very busy days in charge of Santa’s reindeer.  

Said Ruth:  “I had an amazing weekend helping Santa and his reindeer at Bents. 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”

Ruth also helped sell hot punch and mince pies, with all proceeds going to The Christie, Bents’ charity of the year 2013.

Added Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents Garden & Home:  “At first we weren’t sure what to make of this request as we don’t come across many people who want to be an elf for a day!  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.  She was a fantastic elf who got an excellent report from Father Christmas!”