CHRISTMAS might only come round once a year - but that did not stop a group of hard-working nurses holding their festive party in April.

As the sun set on a sunny spring day, the staff of Birchlands Nursing Home, at Haxby, York, were decorating their local pub with tinsel and an inflatable candle for their annual Christmas do.

Sheila Coombs explained: "We had a party booked at Christmas, but not everybody could go. At Christmas there are that many different do's going on, people can't afford it or haven't time.

"Everybody says before Christmas that they're not ready for Christmas, well we weren't, but we are now - there's nothing else to do."

About 50 people attended the party at The Cottage Inn, Haxby, yesterday, where a Santa's Grotto was set up, Christmas crackers were pulled, and the staff danced the night away to Christmas disco records.

"Apart from snow, which I don't remember we had a lot of anyway in December, we've got more or less what we would have had at Christmas."

A surprise presentation was also made for colleague Dorothy Paul, who celebrated her 60th birthday last Friday.

Updated: 11:33 Thursday, April 25, 2002