Retirees brought in to field thousands of calls from children trying to reach Santa on special Christmas 'Santaline'.

A group of retirement village residents has been brought in to field thousands of calls from children trying to reach Santa on a special Christmas "Santaline".

The free service provided by Spark has been running for 24 years, but a surge in the number of calls in recent years has meant many children have been put through to voicemail.

This year, in order to ensure they could speak to a real person, Spark has enlisted the services of retirees from Metlifecare Retirement villages.

The "elderly elves" will man the lines for a few hours a day, five days a week until Christmas, to determine if the child has been "naughty or nice" and taking down their Christmas wish list.

Since its launch on December 4, Santaline (0800 222 222) has been ringing almost continuously with call volumes up 40 per cent on this time last year.

Colenso BBDO's chief creative officer Levi Slavin says that when it came time to find Santa's helpers, they knew exactly who they wanted to ask.

"With at least 70 Christmases under their belts, they were the most experienced candidates by a country mile. Luckily, the job had enough perks to lure them over. And we hear Santa makes a pretty good boss."

Spark's social communications manager Frith Wilson-Hughes adds that as well as having helpers with such experience, the campaign works to connect two different groups of people – kids, and the elderly – in such a magical way."

"And no offence to Santa, but after 24 years of voicemail, it's very cool to finally have someone pick up."