Hibs' Pat Stanton joins Santa to hand out presents at pensioners' Christmas party

Ex-Hibs player Pat Stanton joined Santa to surprise pensioners at a Christmas party hosted by football fans.

The East Lothian Hibs Supporters Club had fundraised for months to put on the event, now in its fifth year.

Hosted at the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club, the senior citizens were given a three course meal, live entertainment and were joined by the special guests, who were both on hand to hand out presents.

Pat said it gives him a chance to reminisce with guests over the good times – and the bad.

“You get people and they bring up games that you’d rather forget and they remember you missing an absolute sitter about ten, 20 years ago but you just laugh at it,” he said.

The Christmas party is now in its fifth year STV News

“They’ve maybe waited all these years to tell you what a shocker it was. The people are great.”

Supporters host the annual party in a bid to tackle loneliness among older members of the community.

Scott Craig, chair of the Prestonpans Hibs Supporters Club, said: “It’s always a hard time of the year for pensioners, especially now that the fuel allowance has been taken from them, so it’s just to give them a wee bit of cheer at Christmas time.”

Fiona Mitchell, the manager at Harlawhill Day Care Centre in Prestonpans said the day helps brighten up the festive calendar for many of their service users.

She said: “A lot of them come and they meet people that they’ve not seen for years because our members are all socially isolated – so they don’t get out unless they come to the day centre.

“This is really the highlight for them because it’s hard for them to get out to these kind of events.”