'Local celebrity' spreading Christmas magic for more than 30 years

Dave Gorman spends each December dressed as Father Christmas and even dyes his hair and beard white

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A "local celebrity" has been making Christmas magical for more than 30 years. Dave Gorman, 63, and a builder from Oxton, spends every December dressed as Santa, visiting children and raising money for charity. This year, Dave has made more than 110 visits, including home visits, nurseries, parties and care homes.

Dave told the ECHO: "I got into it because I used to dress up as Father Christmas and drive the work van around. Somebody then asked me to go and visit their kids and seeing how happy they were and the belief in their eyes gave me a buzz.

"My goal is to try to bring the Christmas magic back and make the non-believers believe again. I have this magic book and when I sprinkle magic dust on the page the kid’s name appears. They love it and that’s when you can see the belief in their eyes again."

Nicknamed 'Mr Christmas', Dave is so dedicated to making Christmas magical he dyes his black hair and beard white all year round instead of using a fake beard.

He began collecting for charities, including Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Claire House and MacMillan, over 10 years ago. Since then, he has raised over £35,000.

Dave recently visited Maxwell’s Barbershop in Birkenhead for a raffle raising money for Macmillan.

Dave said: "Maxwell’s Barbers were selling raffle tickets in their shop so I said I’d take some to sell at work. My daughter, Bekki, also helped me sell tickets and I think I sold about £700 pounds worth in the end."

Al Maxwell, from Maxwell's Barbers, added: “We decided to do the raffle to just try and get more money for Macmillan. They were wonderful when it was the end of my mum’s life and they really guided us through everything.

"We became friends with Dave back in 2016 when he came in to shave his beard off to raise money for Claire House Children’s Hospice and ever since then we’ve helped each other out.

"He’s a local celebrity in Oxton. Before Christmas he visits terminally ill children and does loads of house visits across Merseyside.

"When people fled from the Ukraine war he went to the local church and gave out presents to all the children and their mums too. He spends about £2000 of his own money on gifts for kids every year. It’s so heart warming to see."