UK NEWS

SCOTLAND'S ONLY REAL SANTA…

NOT THE REAL THING: Fake beards and jollity are, of course, easily spotted by youngsters

Tuesday November 20,2007

By Derek Watson

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CHILDREN up and down the country will be coming face to face with Santa Claus in various guises in the next few weeks.

As every child knows, the real Santa is the one who will magically deliver a bag of presents on Christmas Day.

But one modern-day Stirling St Nicholas can lay claim to being the only Scottish member of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas.

Fake beards and jollity are, of course, easily spotted by keen-eyed youngsters.

However, the American-based organisation’s number one requirement of members is that they possess their own sets of whiskers.

And after radio and television celebrity Chris Evans, commented on Robin Black, of Kippen, Stirlingshire’s amazing resemblance to Father Christmas, he finally decided to use his similarity on a regular basis.

Robin, who also skippers his own hotel boat on Loch Ness, said: "I’ve always been called Santa. I must have that look that everyone thinks is Santa-ish.

"I’ve had a beard since 1989 and as it got whiter the number of comparisons grew. A few years ago I had Chris Evans and his team staying on a Dutch barge I use as a hotel boat while he was doing his show from Inverness and he said to his 7million listeners that I looked like Santa Claus.

"As the beard got whiter, I thought that if people kept saying I looked like Santa, I might as well do something about it.

"I’ve been in Debenham’s in Stirling for the past three years but I do a number of other things, including some charity appearances.

"I discovered the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas on the web and asked them if I could join. It’s predominantly American and, as far as I’m aware, I’m the only Scottish one so far. They do a lot for charity and always have a big annual conference with hundreds of Santas."

The organisation has grown to over 700 full members after humble beginnings in August 1994 when just 10 bearded santas got together for an advertising shoot and agreed to hold an annual lunch.

With his full get-up on, Robin faces ever-growing queues of children who are convinced he is the real thing.

He added: "It’s great working with the children, they’re lovely. I had one wee girl last year, who came to see me four times. It’s great when they say they want to go and see the real Santa.

"I usually say that other Santas are very good and very kind and that they’re just helping me because I’m so busy at this time of year.

"It’s a lovely time for children. They always ask, ’how did you know my name’ and I tell them that we used to have an elf who wrote down everyone’s details in a big book but now my senior elf Chip has it all on computer. We have to move with the times!"