Hot on the heels of us lighting up East Village with our Christmas Lights Switch-On, we’re now helping to make sure Father Christmas knows where to find the children of E20!
Doting East Village dad, Jonathan Silman has created a special reindeer guidance system to help Santa find his way to their chimney-less home in one of London’s newest neighbourhoods.
Jonathan’s worried son Hamza, aged 8, feared that Santa would miss their new home in East Village, London. To reassure him Jonathan, aged 28, partnered with East Village and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and sent Santa a video to help guide him on Christmas Eve.
Using the local Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park landmarks of the Olympic Stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the drone flew, from Santa’s point of view, over the E20 neighbourhood on the best sleigh route to find their East Village home this Christmas Eve. Jonathan even went to the trouble of attaching a red-nosed reindeer to the front of the drone.
Now Blitzen, Vixen and Rudolph have no excuse not to come and deliver presents to East Village residents.
Jonathan Silman said: “Hamza was really worried that Santa and his reindeers wouldn’t be able to find his way to East Village as it’s such a new neighbourhood. Nothing would put his fears at bay. Even after I put up a ‘Santa stop here’ sign, he asked me difficult questions like how will Santa find his way to our new home, especially as we haven’t lived here long.
“He believes Santa uses chimneys as a guiding point to find the good children, this broke my heart so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I hope this video inspires children not only in East Village but also in new neighbourhoods up and down the country, especially those living in houses and flats which don’t have chimneys.”
Neil Young, Chief Executive Officer at Get Living London, which owns and manages the rented homes at East Village said: “It’s great to see our residents putting E20 on the map. We were delighted to support Jonathan with getting flight permission to create this video, showing Santa doesn’t need a chimney to find us, and that he can find good children everywhere. At East Village, we put great emphasis on all our residents’ wellbeing and it was great to see a smile on Hamza’s face when his Dad showed him this video.”
Please note, drone filming in East Village and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park needs the express permission of Get Living London and the London Legacy Development Corporation. Thanks to both for supporting the making of this film.
Visit Youtube to find East Village’s Santa-Nav video.