The Marlowes Shopping Centre raises £5,000 for British Heart Foundation

The grotto, which ran for six weekends and the full week leading up to Christmas, was based at The Marlowes and themed around a magical woodland walk. Each twist and turn revealed a spectacular photo opportunity or craft nook, and was decorated with fairy lights for a calming and magical experience. The experience finished with a meet and greet with Santa himself, where children could tell him their Christmas wishes in exchange for some chocolate coins to take home.

The Grotto also featured SEN sessions for those looking for a quieter experience, proving to be incredibly popular with families and ensuring that everyone could participate in the Christmas magic.

Due to the rising cost of living, The Marlowes kept the Grotto as a free activity for families to enjoy, ensuring that nobody would have to miss out at Christmas time. Instead optional donations were encouraged to support chosen charity British Heart Foundation, an organisation that prides itself on funding life saving research for the United Kingdom.

British Heart Foundation was presented with a £5,000 donation as a result of the generosity of the guests of The Marlowes, which will be invaluable in assisting with this research. Approximately 70% of all donations to British Heart Foundation is spent directly on funding research, whilst the remaining amount is invested to grow their income.

Humphrey Mwanza, Centre Manager at The Marlowes Shopping Centre, commented:“We are so thrilled to present British Heart Foundation with £5,000 as a result of our generous visitors to Santa’s Woodland Grotto.

"This has been the cherry on top of a fantastic 2023 for us, and we know that the money donated to this brilliant charity will make a real difference to those impacted by heart and circulatory diseases. Thank you so much to everyone who came along, and who donated to the cause.