Guy Owen

Santa’s reindeer made a stop at St Marks earlier today as they prepared for an annual parade through the city.

The six reindeer caused a stir in the area with hundreds of residents watching the festive animals who made the trip from the Cairngorms mountains in Scotland.

The parade will commence at 6pm where the reindeer will be pulling Santa’s sleigh up Lincoln High Street.

Leonie Palmer, one of the organisers for the event, told The Lincolnite: “The reindeer have come down from the Caringorms, Scotland and that’s where they will be free ranging on the hill, however they come down here for Christmas events, so they’ll be in this pen for a couple of hours where there’ll do a parade.

“I’m really looking forward to the parade, there will be a lot of people and it’s a really nice event and we have friendly reindeer today.”

Earlier this month animal rights protesters demanded for the parade to be cancelled, however Leonie urged the protests to come and see how the reindeer normally live.

“What [the protestors] should do is see where these animals live normally up on the hills, because it’s right up in the mountains, we don’t keep them in fields all year, they’re free range in a beautiful environment.

“I’d say it’s the nicest environment in the UK.”

People in Lincoln are saying they have seen a sharp increase in rough sleeping and begging in the city centre.

The Lincolnite asked people on Lincoln High Street on how they think the problem can be solved.

65-year-old campaigner Elaine Smith, said: “I think the government is to blame, the austerity measures has driven many people onto the street.

“I definitely think the problem has got worse,” added Ollie Ainscough, 29. “It’s not the nicest thing to see if you’re getting approached by a lot of time by [homeless people] asking for money or anything like that.”

Richard Emmerson, 77, suggested that the government should build more homes, but added: “then again, you’ve got council [budgets] that have been cut back.”

When asked if the amount of homeless people on the streets in Lincoln gives the city a bad look, 17-year-old Muma Muma, said: “No, not necessarily because it’s everywhere, it’s not just Lincoln.”