That's the sleigh to do it!

THEY might have been brightly coloured and shiney, but modern plastic sleighs aren't a patch on a good old-fashioned wooden sleigh, and here's the proof.

Scores of people were left standing open mouthed on Saturday as 85-year-old Muriel Moorehead, from Limavady Road in the City, went whizzing past them down the slopes of St Columb's Park on her decades-old family sleigh.

Some took pictures of the young-at-heart and plucky lady, while others videoed her bombing down the slopes and even more stared at her in envy - their sleighs were bright and beautiful, but her sleigh was fast - very fast.

It wasn't long before any shyness evaporated and a bit of a queue formed with folk of all ages keen to see if they could try it out - and with true seasonal generousity, Muriel let whoever wanted to, have a go on her sleigh. Proof positive that the plastic ones didn't cut mustard by comparison.

Speaking on Monday, Miss Moorehead revealed that the sleigh had originally been bought for her nephew, John Moorehead (now in his late 40s), and had been brought back to Northern Ireland around 20 years ago.

"My late sister, Ruth Allen, bought it a long time ago," she recalled, adding that it was for her nephew in Liverpool and had been brought home on an aeroplane about 20 years ago, and had been pretty much in storage since.

Asked if the sleigh had had much of an outing since the return journey to Londonderry, she said: "Just this past few years. My nephew was just a lad when he was bought it, but he is now in his late 40s. I am sure if he ever wanted it he could have it back, but we will be keeping it in the family."

Turning to Saturday's fun, Miss Moorehead seemed to be amused by the attention the sleigh received.

Borrowing it

"Everybody else was borrowing it. Everybody else I saw seemed to have a plastic sleigh with them andthey weren't going as fast on them. I went with a sister to Switzerland and I remember if you were buying toys there they were all made of wood, you would not have seen anything made of plastic, but that was over 30 years ago."

She was snapped by onlooker David Allen, from Drumahoe, who sent us some pictures of Saturday's fun.

"I was in the park with my two sons Josh and Cameron and loads of people were taking photos of Miss Moorehead and there were some there videoing her too. I think there must have been about 50 people taking pictures of Miss Moorehead

"There were lots of people there of all ages, but Miss Moorehead's sleigh was the fastest one there. All the rest were made of plastic and were just not as fast. I just had to take some photographs of the scene for posterity," said David.