It's a Christmas miracle! All week, the elves at the Strawberry Hall have been hoping for their beloved Santa to be returned and, well, this might be the next best thing.
Last Saturday, the three-foot Claus was
stolen from the pub in the Strawberry Beds and was said to have appeared on a 'high-profile' Instagram account. The drama continued as the Strawberry Hall appealed for its return, while
another Instagram account was set up, depicting Santa at various Dublin landmarks.
It now appears that the culprits have been visited by three Christmas ghosts and have had a very Scrooge-like change of heart. They have shared a picture of Santa outside the Developmental Education Centre in St. Vincent’s on the Navan Road and are calling on their near 4,000 followers (side note - pretty impressive numbers for one week of existence) to help raise €5,000 'to fix Santa's sleigh'.
In reality though, 100% of the funds will go towards the DEC, which is a specialist service for local children aged 5-18 with severe/profound intellectual disabilities and life-limiting conditions. The money will be put towards their garden project, redeveloping the space into a more accessible area for all the children.
Talk about a happy ending. Lovin Dublin spoke to our source at the Strawberry Hall who said 'the page got so much traction, they asked us to work with them on it for charity. So now we have turned it into a good cause. If everyone who followed the page donated 1.50 we would hit the target.'
The link to donate can be found on the Strawberry Hall's
Instagram page, the infamous
Strawberry Hall Santa account, or indeed, right
here.
As for the high-profile people involved? We're saying nothing.
Merry Christmas everyone. And a GAAppy New Year.
