SANTA himself will be taking a tour of Barry this month, travelling the length and breadth of the town in his new revamped sleigh courtesy of the Barry Round Table.

The team of volunteers are once again bringing Christmas cheer to children across Barry, a tradition that started in 1972 and is still going strong.

Starting on December 1 the team will be taking Santa and his sleigh - now with new graphics, lights and music system - around Barry delighting children and raising funds for local causes.

Over the past 43 years the sleigh has raised roughly £200,000 which has given back to the local community.

“The sleigh activity is no small feat to pull together,” said Andrew Rosser, Chairman of Barry Round Table. “We’re fortunate in that we’ve recently secured three new members and have few others just about to join so we’ve been able to give the sleigh an overhaul and hope to reach more residents on the routes than ever before."

The refreshed and revamped sleigh was revealed at the Christmas lights switch on at Kings Square and is supported this year by the 10th Barry Girl Guides, 2nd and 4th Barry Scouts, 5th Barry Scouts, 11th Barry Scouts, Pukka Productions, Barry Sixth Form and Barry Communities First.

Anthony Price, one of Barry Round Table’s newest members, has also secured support from a number of local businesses to keep the local sleigh tradition alive.

Mr Rosser continued: "The support we have received has been so inspiring for us as group and has driven us to do even more for our community.

"We’re just a group of ordinary guys doing extraordinary things with a huge passion and drive to make a difference locally. We don’t take any expenses or money from the donations for giving our time and do our very best to cover as much of the town as possible.

"We do have restrictions on what our volunteers and partners can do based on their family lives, jobs and responsibilities and sometimes this does impact how early and late we can collect and also circumstances like poor weather conditions can make it unsafe for our collectors to go out and cover all routes published.

"To that effect, please do support our volunteers and perhaps take a moment to think about helping us grow in members, donate generously and help our community for the better.

"Let's treasure the time and efforts of volunteers and uphold a great Barry tradition. Let’s make the 2015 sleigh tour a really happy and successful one so that we can create as many special memories as possible for everyone who lives here and make a difference through monies raised.”

A full list of the sleigh's destinations and dates can be found at barrysantasleigh.co.uk and facebook.com/barrysantasleigh.

For anyone who may miss out, the sleigh will be featuring at three fixed locations in Barry, Waitrose on Saturday, December 5, Tesco Port Road on Saturday, December 12 and ASDA on Saturday, December 19.