Santa's Grotto in Burnley town centre will open its doors to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) on two dates this year.

The grotto will be open every weekend from Saturday, November 16, until Christmas Eve, with children able to share their Christmas wish lists and receive a gift from Santa.

Following the success of last year’s SEND experience, there will be two dates this year - on Saturday, November 23, and Monday, December 23, when smaller crowds and a 'quieter, calmer atmosphere' are anticipated.

In preparation for those days, the grotto team will be trained in Makaton, or keyword signing, to make sure their visitors get the most out of the experience.

Makaton is a 'simple and easy way of communicating' using signs, symbols and speech used by more than 100,000 children and adults in the UK.

There will be a British Sign Language translator on hand too.

This is the third Christmas of events for the Burnley Leisure and Culture (BLC), and Charter Walk partnership.

Andrea Pollard, BLC’s events and partnerships manager, said: "This year’s grotto has a new festive express train theme, offering a 20-minute experience with fun for all the family.

"Santa and his helpers can’t wait to welcome children from all over to their grotto again this year.

"But they wanted the immersive SEND experience to be as inclusive as possible, so they’ve been working hard to make sure the special needs grotto dates are just that – special in every way."

The grotto’s opening is timed to coincide with Burnley’s Christmas lights switch on Saturday, November 16. 

Festivities will get under way at noon, followed by a lantern parade around the town centre with Santa and his elves at 4.15pm, leading up to a countdown and lights switch-on at 5.15pm.

Before then, visitors will be able to be able to play free crazy golf on Curzon Street and the Burnley Alliance Silver Band will be filling the air with festive classics.