Four generations to enjoy Coventry Co-op sleigh ride tradition

May Chinnock (centre) said she was looking forward to the experience with son Colin and daughter-in-law Viv

Four generations of one family are set to carry on a Christmas tradition by visiting a mechanical sleigh ride, thought to be the last of its kind.

May Chinnock, 102, has been taking her children and grandchildren on the motorised sleigh, famously once housed in Coventry's Co-op, since the 1950s.

This year, for the first time, she will be joined by her great grandchildren.

Her 74-year-old son, Colin, recalls how as a child "you really did go from the Co-op through to the North Pole".

The vintage ride is now housed at Coventry Transport Museum, where the family will be making their festive visit.

The mechanised sleigh itself is fixed into one place, but the scenery around it and reindeers in front move during the ride, creating the illusion of a moving ride.

The ride opened in Coventry Co-op in 1956 and is now housed in the Transport Museum

Mrs Chinnock, from Allesley in the city, said she remembered standing in long queues to get on the ride in the 1950s "when it was new".

"It was marvellous to us at the time, and the children loved it," she said, adding she was "really looking forward" to going on the ride again.

• Listen: Family to enjoy Coventry sleigh ride

Her son said he remembered being taken on the "magical" ride as a child, but had not revisited it since the 1960s.

"It was always mum's job to take our children," Mr Chinnock said. "It was just a marvellous thing."

The piece is believed to be the only working vintage motorised sleigh ride left.

Colin Chinnock was taken on the ride and then to see Father Christmas with his cousin, Gillian, in the 1950s

The sleigh started running in 1956, with others based in Co-op stores in London, York, Belfast, Dalston, Ashton-under-Lyne and Sheffield.

"You couldn't quite believe what was happening because it would just feel as if it was moving," Mr Chinnock said.

"Everything about it, the simplicity and the lighting and everything was just perfect, and then at the end of that you've got Father Christmas as well."

Four generations of the Chinnock family are set to take the ride on 9 December

His wife, Viv, said she was just eight when she last rode on the sleigh.

She recalled: "My nan used to take me on, it was just the magic."

She said they would be visiting the attraction with their own son and daughter, now in their 40s, and six grandchildren, aged from three to 14.

"It will be wonderful because we love spending time with our family anyway, and just to have us all together and doing what we used to do as children," she added.

The couple, who live in Hinckley, Leicestershire, said they were due to visit the ride on Saturday 9 December.