Father Christmas will be coming to the Honiton Family Church this December, and there will be a special SEND session.

The family friendly event will take place on December 17 and 22.

There will be a light trail, craft stalls and activities and treats for sale. After this, children will go and meet Father Christmas himself. Each child will leave with a Christmas present.

The organisers wanted to make sure the event was as inclusive as possible. The entry fee is less expensive than other events, at £5. As well as this, there will be a separate SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) session.

During this session there will be reduced numbers and the music and flashing lights will be turned off. Adults with additional needs are welcome to attend this session. This year, Father Christmas is trying to learn some Makaton (a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate.)

Sarah Rickman is a regular attendee at Honiton Family Church and she is a volunteer for the children's team and the fundraising team. She spoke to Nub News about the event and why it was so important for her to be inclusive.

"We wanted to keep it affordable because as a church we have been very aware of the cost-of-living crisis impacting our local community. Christmas is a time of such pressure for parents to create the magical Christmas shown on the adverts and no family should have to get into debt for that.

"We hope to reach out to all local families, those that can't afford to go to more expensive events and those that can but want to stay local, want to feel a sense of community. It really is a welcome one and all type event. 

"We decided to run SEND sessions because we could see a local need, myself and several other parents in the church have children with additional needs and we are very aware of the lack of events for families with additional needs."

Father Christmas will be at the church on Saturday 17 and Thursday 22 of December. The times are 12.30pm - 6pm for both sessions.

 Tickets are available here  and you can find the Honiton Family Church on Facebook here.