A FAMILY are adding an extra sprinkling of festivity to their community this Christmas — by placing a postbox for letters to Santa in their garden.

Paul and Dawn Heald are inviting children to post their wish list to Father Christmas in the box at the front of their home in Woodfield Grove, Farnworth.

In return, the couple, who have three young sons, will hand deliver a reply to every letter writer, along with some reindeer food, a few days later.

It is the third year the Healds have put up their post box.

Mr Heald, aged 33, said: “There’s a lot of children round here who don’t get anything nice for Christmas. If it makes a few kids happy then it makes us happy.”

The Healds decorate their house with thousands of fairy lights and put up posters in the local post office and at their children’s school, St Peter’s, ensuring that local children come flocking.

Mrs Heald, aged 27, said: “It always goes down well with the parents, although their kids want to go past everyday to look at the lights, so it’s a bit of a detour.”

To ensure Santa’s helpers know where to post his reply, parents are asked to include their full address.