Santa has begun his annual tour of Rutland.

Father Christmas and his sleight began in Uppingham last night and will continue until Christmas Eve, when he will be in Oakham.

Allan Grey of Rutland Lions said with Rutland being in Teir Two restrictions, the rule of six meant Santa could take five elves with him.

But Santa warned: "To ensure my safety, and your safety, everyone's safety in fact, we will not be inviting children onto the sleigh this year, and we won't be able to hand out sweets to everyone, but I will be there waving and Ho Ho Ho'ing for all my might, and of course the sleigh will be playing all the Christmas carols and music, deafening me as it does every year".

He continued: "What we will have this year however, are a couple of post boxes on the side of the sleigh so that children can post their letters to Santa right outside their house, and we'll aim to reply by email to every letter we receive.

"Children can download a template for the letter from our website or from our Facebook page, fill it in and post it when Santa arrives, that'll make it much easier".

Children can also 'track' Santa on the Rutland Lions Facebook page, so they don't have to wait in the cold so long to see him or miss him.

Another change this year, is that instead of Santa and his helpers knocking on doors and taking cash, to keep things as safe as possible, people can donate using a Just Giving Page via Rutland Lions' Facebook page and website.

However, there will be an elf with a card reader and a few elves will carry a collection bucket.