Christmas came early for a group of Primary 1 pupils from the Gorbals when they were invited into the GHA Customer Service Centre to meet Santa Claus.

Workers at the 24-hour contact centre came up with the idea after having created Santa’s grotto as part of their own Christmas celebrations.

Due to the non-stop nature of the centre, the staff are unable to go out for a Christmas lunch or get together as a full team. Instead, the managers and staff bring Christmas into the office by cooking up a festive lunch and inviting workers to pay Santa Claus a visit.

And this year the grotto they created in the Gorbals centre was so impressive they decided to share it with local children.

The lucky pupils from St Francis and Blackfriars primary schools were taken in to meet Santa one by one while GHA staff, dressed as Santa’s helpers, kept the others occupied with storytelling, carol singing and Christmas crafts.

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Every youngster was given a present and drinks and snacks to make it a magical day.

Customer Service Team Leader Lillian Baikie said: “It’s been a lot of work but when you see how excited the kids are to meet Santa it’s just fantastic – it really melted our hearts.”

GHA Customer Experience Manager Karen Durnian said: “We’ve been here in the Gorbals for three years now and feel like we’re absolutely part of the community, but we thought this would be a great way to introduce ourselves to the local children.

“Our staff have worked flat out in their own time to make this an extra special event.”

Mrs Nicola McHutchison, P1 teacher at Blackfriars Primary School, said: “We kept this as a surprise for the children, so when we were on our way here they were all trying to guess where they were going.

“But when we arrived and they were greeted by Santa’s little helpers they were just giddy with excitement.

“Santa’s grotto looks fantastic and the staff have organised so many activities for the kids.”

GHA’s Customer Service Centre is staffed 24/7 by a team of around 100 dedicated customer advisors. They provide a one-stop service for all inquiries from GHA tenants and factored homeowners including repairs and bill payments.

(GK)