FATHER Christmas is a very busy man around this time of year, so Dick Miles is lending him a hand by making hundreds of toys for Marlborough children in his workshop .

It all started three years ago, with a little wooden pig that caught the eye of one of Mr Miles’s friends, who encouraged him to make more.

He said: “A dear friend said to me, ‘That’s nice’, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be good if I could do one for each of the children up at the school?’ “So he said he’d get me all the wood, if I did the work, and that’s how it all started.”

In the first year, Mr Miles, of Stonebridge Close, crafted 450 wooden toys in his garage and gave one to each of the children at St Mary’s School.

Since then, he has delighted youngsters with 350 snowmen.

This year, he handed out 300 Christmas trees.

As well as crafting all the toys, Mr Miles also paints them and this year the project took him three months.

The 79-year-old grandfather is a well-known figure at the school, visiting every Tuesday afternoon to listen to the children read.

He said: “It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth every second to see those children’s faces at Christmas.

“Their reaction is absolutely wonderful. People say to me, ‘I can’t wait until Christmas, so I can get them out again.’ “I do enjoy going up to the school and the parents are so nice to me.

“I go right round the school, to every class, from the little infants to the bigger children.

“I sit down and I just have a chat with them and then give the toys out to them.

“The first year, I put all the pigs around the Christmas tree at St Mary’s Church and I got mobbed by the mothers afterwards. They said, ‘How did you do it, Dick?’”

Mr Miles worked in upholstery and carpet fitting at a shop in the High Street, but got into carpentry after he retired 14 years ago.

He said: “It keeps me going. Everyone always says, ‘What are you doing next year?’ “You don’t know what’s round the corner, but I’ll keep doing it for as long as I can.”