Newry's answer to Black Santa celebrates his 77th birthday with charity collection

Q Radio News

When it comes to fundraising, age is just a number for Newry’s evergreen answer to Belfast's Black Santa - John Dalzell.

John celebrates his 77th birthday today by doing what he’s done for the past 27 years, a Christmas sit-out at Hill Street to raise invaluable funds for the Southern Area Hospice.

The cross-community effort spearheaded by the former school bus driver has raised coming up on 1.6 million pounds in the past three decades.

John's passionate about the cause and has received an MBE for his charity work....

He briefly announced his intention to retire a couple of years ago but just couldn’t bring himself to do it and is still going strong...

John Dalzell today celebrating his 77th birthday in Newry - collecting for charity. £1.5m+ raised over the years & not about to stop anytime soon, if ever! "Whenever they put me in a coffin, I'll put a slot in it so they can drop money in!" More on air & https://t.co/boX2EdCtC7 pic.twitter.com/1dnSEEqRJv

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) December 21, 2018

The effort culminates with a cross-community parade in the city centre at noon on Monday...