FATHER Christmas’ beard is already well-known but St George’s Church in Nailsworth has gone to new lengths to make it a bit of a celebrity.

A model of the jolly man’s face, complete with unravelling plastic beard, was put up on the building and children had to guess how long the beard would grow.

Georgina Sainsburys, 13, of Amberley, beat hundreds of competitors with her spot-on prediction of 3.15 metres.

Organiser Reg Urquhart said: "Just looking at the church brought smiles to children’s faces.

"People were guessing in feet and inches.

"When Snow Business had its headquarters in Nailsworth, it used to have snowmen on the roof.

"But when it moved, lots of families missed that so we decided to do the competition."

The model face, which featured an unravelling ‘beard’ made of old plastic bags, was put up on the church about a month ago.

Mr Urquhart, a grandfather-of-two, then walked around the town dressed as Father Christmas’ helper to encourage children to make a guess.

The competition ended on Nailsworth Goodwill Evening on Friday, November 28.

Winner Georgina was presented with a cake outside the church on Saturday, December 6.