Heartbreak as Leeds 'Mr Claus' loses his 'Mrs Claus' -…

Heartbreak as Leeds 'Mr Claus' loses his 'Mrs Claus' - but vows to continue Christmas grotto on his own

A family from Leeds has paid tributes to a much-loved grandma who died “unexpectedly” due to a brain haemorrhage this month.

Jaine Gater sadly died on November 9 and has been described by her family as a “big family person” and was loved by those in her community.

Jaine lived with her husband Gary in Middleton and the couple had been together for 25 years.

“She was just a big family person,” Kaysi Gater told LeedsLive. “Granddad has six kids so there’s so many grandkids she loved all of them, we all used to come up on Sunday for dinner. She was a massive family person. It was (her passing) unexpected, no one expected it to happen.”

The pair began running a Santa’s grotto from their back garden in 2019 in a bid to raise money for a church in Middleton that had started a club to get youths off the street and continued with it ever since.

Gary would be Santa, and Jaine was Mrs Claus. The first year they raised £500 which was used by the church to take families on a day out to the seaside. They weren’t able to do the grotto the following year due to the pandemic but once restrictions were lifted they ran the grotto again.

Jaine, who died earlier this month, pictured alongside her husband Gary Gater (Family)

Gary would be Santa, and Jaine was Mrs Claus. Gary will continue the grotto alone this year as he believes “she would have liked it to be done.”

The family would decorate the back garden and transform it into a winter wonderland with reindeers and lights as well as a grotto in the back in Gary’s bar.

Last year, they even had elves and Elsa from Frozen but hope this year it can be a lot bigger so they can raise more money for the Children’s cancer ward. On their visit, the children would get a sticker saying they had met Santa as well as a present and inside the home would be a cake sale, tombola and some presents would get raffled off online to make money.

Jaine was described as the “backbone” of it all, as she would promote the event across Middleton, print the stickers and even run the cake sale and tombola inside their home. As they sadly mark Christmas without her this year, they have all stepped up to do it for her.

Gary said: “When lockdown was on, we couldn’t use that money (they raised from the first grotto), it was in the bank and when lockdown was over they took the kids and their family to the seaside in summer for a day's outing. I thought that was quite nice. Everyone was asking if we were going to do it again, we did it and we got £800 of toys that were donated to the children's cancer ward.

“A lot of people know that my wife passed away, she was Mrs Santa Claus, she would do the raffle in the house and the tombola. People were asking if I’m doing it again. She wanted me to do it so I’m carrying on with it.”

Kaysi added: “My grandad was Santa and she was Mrs Claus, she did the tickets, they would raffle some of the bigger toys online so the money can go towards the charity she did all that promoted it, printing the stickers, posting the flyers in letterboxes so everyone was aware, she was the backbone of it all, we’ve had to step in this year to fill in that spot.

“I didn’t realise how much effort she put into it, I’ve been here before helping out but I didn’t realise how much hassle, not like hassle, but the amount of hard work that goes into it. Everyone was like maybe you (grandad) shouldn’t do it this year with her passing, maybe keep yourself busy in other ways maybe not a good time but he’s so insistent because of how much she enjoyed it she would have liked it to be done.”

Santa’s Grotto will return to Middleton at Gary and Jaine Gater’s home on December 10 between 4-6pm. Tickets cost £4 a ticket and includes a small present a selection box, a balloon and a sticker to say I've seen Santa. You can get tickets here.

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