WELL this was a novel way to wake and hear Santa on the roof tops of the Cockerton West area of Darlington on Christmas Day.

No, it wasn’t the usual arrival by sleigh and drawn by reindeer, but a helicopter hovering over the roof tops shining down to show Santa the way – at 4 o’clock in the morning.

No doubt the youngsters in the area on hearing this would have been rousing their parents to start Christmas Day a little earlier than they had intended.

Alison Porter, Darlington