Stanley Fullerton, who died this year, wanted to make Christmas as magical as possible for everyone
Stanley Fullerton featured in the ECHO numerous times over the years(Image: Trinity Mirror Copyright)
This year Liverpool’s lost its very own Father Christmas, Stanley Fullerton. The 87-year-old dedicated 50 years of his life to making people happy, and featured in the ECHO numerous times over the years volunteering as Santa for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, at city mayoral events and on countless other charitable occasions.
Stanley moved to Liverpool from the Isle of Man in the 1950s and spent his life living in Old Swan, where he and his wife Angela raised their six children. He went on to become a grandparent to 19 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.
One of his 19 granddaughters, Sarah Standley, told the ECHO how he would even superglue his white beard on each day to maintain the authentic look of Father Christmas while doing charity events and grottos in the city.
Every year he would transform his home into a Christmas grotto, and Liverpool City Council even declared him to be the city’s “official Santa Claus”. Stanley said he had more than 20,000 visitors to his home in one year. He refused to charge people at first before he began accepting donations, and he went on to raise £2,000 in one year.
Paying an emotional tribute to her grandfather, who died on September 22, Sara said: “He loved his family. He was a brilliant person and he would never see anybody go without, if he could give anything, he would.
“He had lots of different jobs throughout his life and was originally from the Isle of Man, he was proud to be Manx. He also loved Liverpool Football club, he absolutely loved them and was a season ticket holder. He loved Christmas and he loved making people happy.
Tributes flooded in when the ECHO reported on his death earlier this year(Image: Colin Lane)
“He said he always remembered as a child how they never grew up with much money and his mum could never take him to Christmas things as she couldn’t afford it, so it was grandad’s goal to be able to give everyone the best Christmas that they could have no matter what.
“Whether they had £1 or £1,000 they were treated the same. He would never take any money off them, he was just a really great person.”
Stanley, who also went as Stan or Bryan due to his middle name, worked in various jobs over the years, including being a taxi driver across the city. Sarah, 36, a civil service worker who lives in Childwall, described her grandad as being a “jack-of-all-trades”.
Stanley and Angela, who were married for 65 years, would often receive cards and letters addressed to “Santa” at “Santa’s Grotto” on Kremlin Drive and the couple were described as the “pride of Merseyside”.
The ECHO put together a gallery of photos from our archives showing Stanley over the years.
One year that stands out to Sarah is 2000, when the vice president of Coca-Cola sent a letter to her grandad due to his homemade grotto featuring Coca-Cola signage and making his own Coca-Cola van.
In the letter, sent by James Ernest Couton who was serving vice president of Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, it said: “Please find enclosed a small gift in recognition of all your efforts over the years to brighten up the lives of so many people!
“I understand your Christmas decorations are a sight to behold and inclusion of some Coca-Cola features, does my heart good.”
The letter, sent on March 7, 2000, also says how Mr Couton aimed to come to Merseyside to see the grotto, with Sarah explaining how he did in fact see Stanley as he continued to put smiles on the faces of children across the city later that year. He even sent him a Christmas card urging him to keep up the good work and attaching his phone number.
Stanley, also known as Stan or Bryan, even had his own workshop(Image: Eddie Barford)
Stanley would create the decorations for his home in a workshop, with photos from the ECHO archives showing him working on a large Father Christmas to add to his home/grotto.
Speaking about her grandfather’s personality, she added: “He just had an amazing imagination. If he set his mind to something he would do it and his attitude always was ‘there’s nothing you can’t do, you can always do it, it might not be as good as everybody else but you can always do what you set your mind to’. He just loved to see other people happy.
“I’m really proud of everything that he did and tried to do. Us as a family are very proud and that’s one of the reasons I contacted the ECHO.
“He would be ecstatic if he knew he was going to be in the ECHO. That was his legacy and that’s what he wanted people to remember him for.”
Following Sarah’s tribute, people shared their own tributes to Stanley. Kevin Taylor said: “This is so sad. It’s like having a family member pass away.
“Everyone needs to keep believing, so the magic doesn’t disappear. Just remember your childhood memories of the main man in the red suit and what he brought to your home on Christmas Eve, ready for you to find on Christmas morning.” Jo Michael wrote: “Used to love visiting this house. Without a doubt, the best decorated house I’ve ever seen.”
Evie Dee commented: “Amazing man, he made so many kids and people so happy.”
Ellen King wrote: “I always took my grandchildren to his house they loved it there such a lovely man and his family. May he rest in peace.”