Santa will be urging families to dig deep for a special needs support group when he goes on his annual rounds in aid of a good cause this month.

Ilkley and District Round Table hope residents of Ilkley and Addingham will help it raise thousands of pounds this month to help community group LS29 provide fun activities and trips away dedicated to youngsters with special needs.

The group recently landed a £10,000 Big Lottery Fund grant to help it run music therapy sessions for children. Early in 2010 it gained almost £10,000 from a Bradford-based organisation to part-fund short breaks for local families.

Santa has been flying into Ilkley early for more than 20 years, and is accompanied by Round Tablers who shake collection buckets around the streets to raise money for good causes.

This year, the Round Table had been planning to donate to Ben’s Wish to Walk – the fundraising appeal to send Ilkley boy Ben Smithson to American for specialist surgery.

But the fast and outstanding generosity from across the community to Ben’s appeal means his family has already been inundated with donations.

Instead, the Round Table has taken up a request for funding from LS29, and hopes to give as much as £5,000 to the group.

The LS29 group was set up in 2006 when a group of mums realised they had less and less contact with others at weekends and during school holidays, due to their child’s needs.

They decided that by forming a group for families in a similar situation, they could offer support to each other and also organise activities to give the families structure and events to look forward to. LS29 aims to meet the needs of parents and siblings as well as youngsters with special needs, and enables families to participate in activities with others who have a good understanding of the issues affecting the children.

Most members of the group are from the LS29 postcode area, but families from outside this area are not excluded.

In the last financial year, the group saw more than 170 people from 47 families attend one or more of its events. LS29 ran 16 family activities, five coffee mornings, three short breaks, five multi-agency meetings and six nights out for adults.

Ilkley Round Table will take Santa on his tour of the area starting on Sunday December 12, when they will visit Addingham. Santa will be around the Valley Drive area of Ilkley on December 13, followed by the terraced streets off Railway Road on December 14.

He will ride along Bolling Road on his sleigh on December 17, and visit Dale View on December 19.

Santa and the Round Table usually go out between 5.30pm and 7.30pm each evening.