Santa sensory grotto was attended by a large number of families from all over Tipperary

Santa’s sensory grotto opened its heart in Scoil Chormaic Cashel from December 6-8 to the delight of many Tipperary families and over 180 children attended.

The trip to see Santa in the school for the pupils has been an annual event, however, this year Knockanrawley Workability project who work out of the school felt the opportunity was there to open it up to all children and their families with additional needs as the set was magical. 

For families with a child with additional needs the magical visit to Santa and his elves can be a nightmare due to grottos not understanding the needs of our special children or the simple lack of love and understanding.

Like all families, this trip should be relaxed, enjoyable and inclusive of all children’s needs and most importantly getting that family photo depicting that sense of innocence, love and magic.

So the mammoth task began with many meetings and ideas and a plan put in place. From the onset, Lorraine Lowry principal of Scoil Chormaic was on board to offer school facilities and any support that was required throughout the organising and attended all weekend to be there to meet the families.

Workability participants played an active role with all the preparations from start to finish and it was great to see the teamwork and confidence building along the way.

Local businesses came on board with sponsorship and we are so grateful to Stakelums Hardware Thurles, Ronayne Thurles, Woodies Clonmel, JNC Premier Pitches and Fencing, English Leahy Solicitors, and Darragh homes Cashel. On arrival families were greeted with three of Santa’s hard-working elves, with one elf then escorting the family on their magical journey. First stop was the activity room with various sensory toys available alongside arts and crafts and cookie decorating.

Next stop was through a magical winter wonderland with a display of deer, snowmen various animals and total magic before knocking on the cabin of the main man and Mrs Claus. This was a nice relaxed atmosphere with the children leading the way and taking as much time as was needed to process the experience and hopefully come away with a family photo.

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The fun was not over yet as families moved on to the Refreshment cabin with hot chocolate, mince pies and many treats to be enjoyed. Every child/family was presented with a card to write their Christmas wish on and tie to our wish tree on the way out.

The feedback from families was immense with so much gratitude, tears and a sense of belonging for everyone.

Danielle told us “Best Santa experience we ever had with our ASD 3 year old. Santa was very patient and our other 2 children loved it, it was such a magical time for our family. Deborah agreed saying, “such a wonderful experience Santa Claus was so kind and understanding, made the day so special for us all.

For us as organisers it was a very emotional time both happy and sad and it was a privilege to share the weekend with so many families knowing we were making magical memories with them.

The staff of Scoil Chormaic played an integral role giving up their time over the weekend, with 46 volunteers needed daily, alongside 7 Santas, 7 Mrs Clauses. Having the staff present added to the experience as they knew and understood the needs of many of the children with many staff having years of experience working in the field .

Olivia Thorpe provided all the goodies for the weekend and the cookies for decoration and was on hand all weekend to support us with any needs.

Paddy Loughmore stayed with us for two full days to provide the magical family pictures!  

Our anchor from start to finish was Raymond Dowd who work tirelessly for weeks to have everything perfect and even Storm Darragh could not catch him as he had everything battened down and secure.  

Finally, from myself (Evelyn) and Emily Workability Project we want to say a massive thanks to everyone that supported us with this magical weekend and no doubt, we will be touch in 2025 to make it bigger and better.

 As I reflect on the weekend, I feel with a bit of love and understanding anything can be achieved once people come together.