Tributes to 'true gent' who lived to help others

TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular Hartlepool man who brought joy to thousands of children by dressing as Santa for 30 years.

- By SUE KIRBY

Jim Croll was well known throughout the town for his charity work and bringing smiles to the faces of youngsters, by donning his red and white suit and handing out presents.

Sadly Jim had to give up acting as Father Christmas in 2021 due to ill health, but by then he had raised tens of thousands of pounds for a huge range of charities across the North East.

The former British Steel and ICI worker first donned the white beard and rosy cheeks in 1994 to raise money for the Children’s Heart Unit Fund at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, spurred on by his son Michael's experience on the ward - after he was born with a serious heart condition.