{"id":1434,"date":"2023-11-27T13:33:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T13:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2023-11-27T15:33:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T15:33:40","slug":"coventrys-real-santa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/","title":{"rendered":"Coventry’s Real Santa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Coventry man reported to be the \u2018real Father Christmas\u2019 is hoping to raise thousands of pounds for charity when he makes his festive rounds in the city.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul Sharp, 63, has helped raise more than \u00a310,000 as Father Christmas over the last four years by donating a portion of his \u2018Santa salary\u2019 to charity and collecting extra donations on his visits across the region. This year, he is hosting his own \u2018Storytelling with Father Christmas\u2019 sessions at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall every Saturday in the run up to Christmas, as well as heading to Coombe Abbey Hotel to spread festive cheer to families every Sunday.<\/p>\n

His Christmas itinerary also includes Zoe\u2019s Place Baby Hospice in the north of the city, where he visits wards and attends Christmas events, and Welford Christmas Tree Farm, where he helps to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis charity MS Society. He will also be supporting Warwickshire charity Molly Olly\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The former police constable and driving instructor has been successfully identified by multiple Coventry children as the \u2018real Santa\u2019 due to his unmistakable beard and Christmas spirit.<\/p>\n

Paul, originally from Wyken, first assumed the role 30 years ago. After a jam-packed 2023 schedule, he is hoping to begin much-needed repairs on his 1957 sleigh, and add new custom-made Father Christmas apparel to his collection.<\/p>\n

Paul said: \u201cI have been Santa for each of the last 30 Christmases but I think 2023 will be one of my busiest yet, so it\u2019s a great opportunity to try and give something back to people who need it at this time of year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started out visiting Coventry schools as Father Christmas in the 1990s before heading out to other places in the Midlands. Once I got started and grew out the beard, which usually gets going from July onwards, it felt like a calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe responses you get from\u00a0children and families can be really heartwarming, and I find it such a rewarding and enjoyable experience that I have no plans to stop any time soon, especially when the fundraising has become such a central part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting back to some great venues across the region, including Coombe Abbey<\/a> and St Mary\u2019s Guildhall<\/a>, which are both stunning venues and provide an extra layer of Christmas magic over the festive season, as well as seeing families coming together to create memories at a really special time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron Terry, Group Operations Director at No Ordinary Hospitality, which operates Coombe Abbey Hotel and St Mary\u2019s Guildhall, said: \u201cWe are extremely lucky to have Paul back as our Santa for another year, and no one care argue his love for the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would urge anyone visiting us over Christmas to give what they can for the incredible charities Paul is raising money for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storytelling with Father Christmas at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall will take place on Saturday, December 2, 9, 16 and 23, with a relaxed session on December 2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For more information visit:\u00a0www.stmarysguildhall.co.uk\/christmas-at-st-marys-guildhall<\/a><\/p>\n

To find out more about Christmas events at Coombe Abbey visit:\u00a0www.coombeabbey.com\/christmas-2023<\/a><\/p>\n

Discover the full article on\u00a0Coventry Observer<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A Coventry man reported to be the \u2018real Father Christmas\u2019 is hoping to raise thousands of pounds for charity… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[7,8,9,10],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoventry's Real Santa - NOHM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meet Paul Sharp, Coventry's very own 'Father Christmas,' on a mission to make spirits bright and raise thousands for charity. Join him at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall and Coombe Abbey Hotel, spreading festive cheer to support Zoe\u2019s Place, and more. Dive into the heartwarming tale of a 30-year Santa journey filled with joy, giving, and the magic of Christmas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coventry's Real Santa - NOHM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meet Paul Sharp, Coventry's very own 'Father Christmas,' on a mission to make spirits bright and raise thousands for charity. Join him at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall and Coombe Abbey Hotel, spreading festive cheer to support Zoe\u2019s Place, and more. Dive into the heartwarming tale of a 30-year Santa journey filled with joy, giving, and the magic of Christmas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NOHM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-27T13:33:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-27T15:33:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"No Ordinary Hotel Management\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"No Ordinary Hotel Management\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"No Ordinary Hotel Management\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d85c23c1306e42cbcc88ed8fa2c5b38\"},\"headline\":\"Coventry’s Real Santa\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-27T13:33:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-27T15:33:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/\"},\"wordCount\":525,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"christmas\",\"Coombe\",\"Santa\",\"st mary's guildhall\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Hospitality News\",\"NOHM News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/\",\"name\":\"Coventry's Real Santa - NOHM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-27T13:33:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-27T15:33:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"Meet Paul Sharp, Coventry's very own 'Father Christmas,' on a mission to make spirits bright and raise thousands for charity. Join him at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall and Coombe Abbey Hotel, spreading festive cheer to support Zoe\u2019s Place, and more. Dive into the heartwarming tale of a 30-year Santa journey filled with joy, giving, and the magic of Christmas.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":525},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Coventry’s Real Santa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/\",\"name\":\"NOHM\",\"description\":\"No Ordinary Hospitality Management\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"No Ordinary Hospitality\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/logo-1.png\",\"width\":682,\"height\":508,\"caption\":\"No Ordinary Hospitality\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d85c23c1306e42cbcc88ed8fa2c5b38\",\"name\":\"No Ordinary Hotel Management\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff7a87506654394808be1b74473625aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff7a87506654394808be1b74473625aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"No Ordinary Hotel Management\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Coventry's Real Santa - NOHM","description":"Meet Paul Sharp, Coventry's very own 'Father Christmas,' on a mission to make spirits bright and raise thousands for charity. Join him at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall and Coombe Abbey Hotel, spreading festive cheer to support Zoe\u2019s Place, and more. Dive into the heartwarming tale of a 30-year Santa journey filled with joy, giving, and the magic of Christmas.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Coventry's Real Santa - NOHM","og_description":"Meet Paul Sharp, Coventry's very own 'Father Christmas,' on a mission to make spirits bright and raise thousands for charity. Join him at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall and Coombe Abbey Hotel, spreading festive cheer to support Zoe\u2019s Place, and more. Dive into the heartwarming tale of a 30-year Santa journey filled with joy, giving, and the magic of Christmas.","og_url":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/","og_site_name":"NOHM","article_published_time":"2023-11-27T13:33:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-27T15:33:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":525,"url":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"No Ordinary Hotel Management","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"No Ordinary Hotel Management","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/"},"author":{"name":"No Ordinary Hotel Management","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d85c23c1306e42cbcc88ed8fa2c5b38"},"headline":"Coventry’s Real Santa","datePublished":"2023-11-27T13:33:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-27T15:33:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/"},"wordCount":525,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png","keywords":["christmas","Coombe","Santa","st mary's guildhall"],"articleSection":["Hospitality News","NOHM News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/","url":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/","name":"Coventry's Real Santa - NOHM","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png","datePublished":"2023-11-27T13:33:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-27T15:33:40+00:00","description":"Meet Paul Sharp, Coventry's very own 'Father Christmas,' on a mission to make spirits bright and raise thousands for charity. Join him at St Mary\u2019s Guildhall and Coombe Abbey Hotel, spreading festive cheer to support Zoe\u2019s Place, and more. Dive into the heartwarming tale of a 30-year Santa journey filled with joy, giving, and the magic of Christmas.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-design-53-1024x525-1.png","width":1024,"height":525},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/coventrys-real-santa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Coventry’s Real Santa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/","name":"NOHM","description":"No Ordinary Hospitality Management","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#organization","name":"No Ordinary Hospitality","url":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/logo-1.png","width":682,"height":508,"caption":"No Ordinary Hospitality"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d85c23c1306e42cbcc88ed8fa2c5b38","name":"No Ordinary Hotel Management","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff7a87506654394808be1b74473625aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff7a87506654394808be1b74473625aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"No Ordinary Hotel Management"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1434"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1438,"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions\/1438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noordinaryhospitality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}