Wales has a new Champion Elf. She’s five year old Molly Stanley, from Wrexham, who’s a pupil of St Mary’s Primary School.
Molly was chosen by a panel of judges headed by the man of the moment, Santa Claus.
The second Welsh Elf Championships were held in the cafe of the Debenhams store at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham.
Molly was extremely proud to be crowned the Champion Elf of Wales and couldn’t wait to tell her friends at school.She won a £50 voucher for the Frankie and Benny’s restaurant, a family ticket for two adults and two children from the Odeon Cinema, a family ticket for bowling at Tenpin and a four tickets for Cinderella at the Stiwt Theatre in Rhos.Her mum, Katie Cooney, said: “I thought it was a brilliant event and everyone made a really good effort. They all looked lovely.
“Molly is going to be very busy now, she’ll be busy with her Elf duties and we’re going to have a lovely Christmas with all these lovely prizes.”
Two other elves, McKenzie Griffiths, five, a pupil of St Ethelwold’s Primary School, in Queensferry where he lives, and Annabell Edwards, five, a pupil of Llay Park Primary School, were the runners up.
They won a £50 voucher for a family meal at the Frankie and Benny’s restaurant and a family ticket for two adults and two children from the Odeon Cinema.
McKenzie’s grandmother, Mary Griffiths, said: “I thought it was great. It’s the first time that we’ve ever been here, but we will definitely be coming again.
“Mackenzie’s really enjoyed it and I am very proud of him.”
Equally delighted was Annabell’s mum, Haley Williamson, who said: “It’s made me feel all Christmassey, any excuse to dress the kids up! They were very excited about meeting Father Christmas.”
All the elves who entered received a goodie bag from the Sugacane sweet shop in Eagles Meadow along with a certificate for being a Highly Commended Elf.
The proceedings were hosted by former children’s television presenter Nia Ceidiog, who hails from Wrexham.
These days she’s the boss of an award-winning independent television production company.
She said: “I love working with children and the Elf Championships are a lovely idea. Let’s face it, Santa is going to be extremely busy between now and Christmas and he can do with all the help he can get. We had some really fantastic elves here today. They’ve all done Santa proud.”
The prizes were presented by the Mayor and Mayoress of Wrexham, Cllr Ian Roberts, and his wife, Hilary.
Cllr Roberts said the event was a huge success. “The effort and care which those little elves had gone to when preparing their costumes was amazing. It was obviously incredibly tough to choose the winners and all the children were on such best behavior that it was very difficult to reach a decision.”
Santa’s helpers on the judging panel were Kevin Critchley, the manager of Eagles Meadow, and Sarah Fox, from Debenhams.
Kevin said: “I would say it was probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make. They all looked fantastic and there was so many of them.
“Some of the outfits that have been put together obviously showed that we had potentially some very hard working Elves to see us today.”
Sarah Cox added: “I am very glad Santa Claus was there to guide us with making our decision and it would have been virtually impossible otherwise.
“That said, I think we picked some very special winners and I want to say congratulations to all the elves who took part.”
Head Judge Santa was delighted with the standard of the elf participants. He said: “Eagles Meadow is the perfect venue for the Welsh Elf Championships and I had a wonderful time meeting the elves and their families.
“The area is obviously full of champion elves so I will be back again next year to look for another Champion Elf.”
