No 65: 2 December: Switching on the new Christmas Lights

Wednesday 2 December: Switching on the new Christmas Lights

Tonight was the switching on the new Christmas Lights. The Christmas Lights in Caernarfon had been getting old and had deteriorated considerably over the last few years. Because of the continued work on the Maes we decided to do the absolute minimum last year and to carry over the under spend and add it to this year's budget so that we would have a decent sum to work with. This was considered to be a sensible approach and we now have new lights in the Maes, Stryd Llyn, Bridge Street, Bangor Street, High Street and Palace Street. The annual Christmas Tree was in the centre of the Maes as usual, but we had purchased new lights for the tree last year.

We wanted to make Caernarfon an exciting place for youngsters over the Christmas Season. We also wanted to show our support for local businesses by making Caernarfon an attractive place for people to come to do their Christmas shopping. The switching on ceremony was a simple event with myself saying a few words and followed by a count down. Then a signal to the contractors and we saw the new lights for the first time and they really did make a difference.

To coincide with the switching on of the lights the North Wales Fire Service had arranged to have a bus on the Maes to launch their Safe Christmas campaign. This contained the warnings such as not leaving the lights on the Christmas Tree on when the house was empty. To encourage children not to use candles they were giving out small battery powered candles. We visited the bus and then we went on a walk round the town to see the new lights.

They looked good and an enormous improvement on the previous lights. Palace Street, in particular, looked delightful. I look forward to getting feedback from the public when they see them properly over the Christmas/New Year period. The first photo shows Margaret with Cllrs Menna Thomas and Myfi Powell-Jones and Marian Lambert Jones setting off to see the lights. The second shows one of the lights in Stryd Llyn and the third shows Katherine, the town Clerk, and myself with the Fire Service staff in the Exhibition Bus.