Christmas comes early at village inn

IF you thought the summer weather was upside down then you would have felt at home in the Galleon Inn — where they've been celebrating Christmas.

It might have been four months early, but the halls were decked with boughs of holly, it seemed the season to be jolly, the Christmas tree stood spruce and decorated, there were crackers to be pulled, a Father Christmas grotto, complete with Santa Claus, and a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.

And ruling over it all was a chap called Noel.

Noel Pearson, in fact, who, with his wife Jane, has been running the Starcross pub for three years and is always trying to come up with some different ideas to raise cash for charity and show the regulars a good time.

Christmas on August 25 seemed just the sort of madcap idea that might be a hit. And so it proved.

The first Noel knew about it was when his wife told him the date: "She said 'There's a bank holiday on the 25th'.

"I said 'Yes?' and she said: 'Then let's celebrate Christmas!' It was that sort of decision," explained Noel.

"It is always sunny on August Bank Holiday, so it's a sort of Tenerife Christmas.

"We decorated the pub with traditional Christmas glitter, lots of face-painting for the children as well as a Father Christmas grotto, presents and Christmas dinner.

"It is just like Christmas and, better still, it's all in a good cause, the Devon Air Ambulance appeal.

"It's meant that Christmas has come early for them, too, because we reckon we will have raised over £1,000 for the charity, what with the Christmas raffle, a tabletop sale and the meal.

"It was probably the finest day of the summer so far, but everybody joined in the spirit of the day and we had 80 people sit down to turkey and cranberry sauce and Christmas pudding.

"We have never done anything like this before, although we had a special event for the RNLI last August bank holiday.

"I have a special up my sleeve for next year — but it's going to have to be a big secret for now."