Homemade sleigh's visits in Northamptonshire raise £3,600 for charity

BBC Luke and Lauren CostelloBBC
Luke and Lauren Costello finished their trips in the sleigh in their home village

A family has raised more than £3,600 for charity by spending December touring villages in a homemade sleigh.

Luke and Lauren Costello run Santa's Squad, giving out gifts and spreading cheer in south Northamptonshire.

The couple, who built the quad bike-powered sleigh from scratch, have raised money for food bank charity The Trussell Trust.

Mr Costello said it "felt good" to do their last run in their home village of Roade.

The 32 year-old added: "It would be nice to do more, but it's the first year and we did not know it was going to go this big and raise this much."

Sleigh
The sleigh was built from scratch by the couple

A map of each village visit was posted on Facebook, and sweets donated by a local supermarket and sports club were handed out to children.

Mr Costello said the family initially had a fundraising target of £2,000 but surpassed that after appearing on BBC Radio Northampton earlier this month.

He said now the village visits were finished he would "probably be bored, as I like to keep doing something, I always need a plan".

The father-of-three said next year he would like to visit more villages in Northamptonshire but needed "a more powerful quad so I can get on dual carriageways".

"It's nice to help people out who need it, it makes you feel really good to be honest," he added.

Thank you NHS sign
Last December Mr Costello made a light-up "Thank you NHS" sign for his home
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