SQUIRE’S Garden Centres have raised £21,380.30 for charity.

Customers donated this huge sum of money while visiting Santa in his grotto over the Christmas period.

Customers also threw money into special wishing wells and fountains and put money into collection pots, all of which is being donated to charity.

The business has branches in Crawley and Washington, both in West Sussex.

Deputy chairman Sarah Squire said: “Our Christmas grottos always bring a smile to children’s faces.

“It’s great to be able to bring some New Year cheer to the charities that we support by donating this money to them.

“Each of our garden centres chooses which local charity they would like to support for the year, and all donations from the public go directly to that charity.

“I hope the money raised will help support the wonderful work that they do in our local communities.”

The Crawley store raised £1,446.00 for the Olive Tree Cancer Support Centre, while the Washington branch collected £717.73 for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Squire’s Garden Centres is a successful family-owned horticultural business with 15 centres across Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Middlesex, North and West London.

The business was founded by D.J. Squire in 1936, initially as a landscape gardening business which then developed into one of the first garden centre businesses in the UK in 1964.