Nearly 700 people attended the festive Christmas lights illumination in Great Harwood.
Choirs from Great Harwood Primary School, St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School, Gt Harwood St John’s CE Primary, Our Lady and St Hubert’s and St Wulstan’s sung hymns and carols to mark the Christmas event.
The switch-on was hosted by BBC Radio Lancashire presenter Stephen Lowe for the third year running and opened by town crier Rawden Kerr.
The lights were officially turned on at 7pm by beloved Accrington Stanley mascot ‘Winstanley’ after the Accrington Stanley football team, who were originally going to lead the switch-on, were drawn away against Portsmouth.
Great Harwood councillor Gareth Molineux helped organise the switch-on.
He said: “I thought the light switch-on was fantastic, we had some good representation from the local shops who stayed open late and it really helped the local trade.
“We got help from the Great Harwood Community Action Group and some members of the Civic Society, but it’s really a community run event with the management of the councillors.”
Coun Molineux said the night was made even better by the work of a Great Harwood apprentice who gave a huge contribution to the staging.
He said: “We were contacted by a young lad called Matt who is an apprentice studying technical light and sound.
“He’s studying towards getting his NVQ so he asked if he could provide us with the lighting effects as part of his coursework.
“So we were given thousands of pounds worth of lighting equipment that we could never have afforded for the festive switch-on, and he got to sign off on two of his coursework modules so that was fantastic. It just shows the community spirit in Great Harwood.”
The winners of the best dressed window competition were Purple Curl Salon, who won first prize, and received a £100 cheque, while Eyes of Harwood gained second place and a gift certificate for a photoshoot at Trevor Adams in Accrington, and Elite Drycleaners won £25 in cash donated from the councillors.
Pat Quinn, receptionist at Eyes of Harwood, whose daughter designed their display, said: “Our window is all white and silver and blue, with a waving snowman. The children have loved it so that makes it all worthwhile.”
