WATERLOOVILLE COMES TOGETHER FOR THEIR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

While some towns moan that council cuts mean they have no Christmas Lights – Waterlooville came together this weekend to create a great event to switch theirs on.

So many people gave their time for nothing:

· 10 acts performed on stage in the cold (and rain at the start of the day)
· TS Tenacity led the lantern parade and the police and air cadets provided the marshalls
· The Rotary club sent Santa and his fantastic light up sleigh (and the donkeys came!)
Princesses from Princess Party Entertainment and Friends provided photo opportunities

· And, of course, the volunteers from the Waterlooville Events team were on their feet for 9 hours (in addition to the months of work planning the event) to make sure it went as smoothly as possible.

Local Businesses played their part:

· Leaders Estate agents paid for all our advertising
· O2 sponsored 2 of the workshops for children to make their lanterns for the parade
· 24 local businesses made a donation towards the cost of installing the lights
· Clinton Electrics went the extra mile and spent far more time than budgeted for to install the lights.
· We Big Local sponsored a Lantern Workshop
· Profile productions gave us a very generous discount on the stage.
· and we must not forget Wilko who donated all the batteries for the lights

We had tremendous support from the council employees to help us through the nightmare of documentation and rules. Individual councillors also gave us some of their personal grant allowance towards two extra lantern workshops and the cost of installation.

We hope to increase the number of lights every year subject to attracting the funds to buy them. Things can always be improved so give us feedback for next year.

Overall the Waterlooville Community came together and nearly 1000 people enjoyed the entertainment and the switch on. Waterlooville should be very proud!

Thank you to Archibald &Edwards for photo

FESTIVE LIGHTS, NONE FOR WATERLOOVILLE!

Some of you may have read previous blogs as I have tried to work my way through the bureaucracy of licensing and installation for festive lights in the town centre. In fairness the paperwork has been easier (was started in JUNE!) mainly because a lovely lady called Katie in Havant Borough Council has been helping me. So why am I saying there will be no festive lights in Waterlooville this year? Scottish and Southern Electrics SSE!! We have to get permission to hang the motifs from their lighting columns (also know as lamp posts!) To do that we have to get an installer approved by them!! Our installer from last year retired and we had to find a new one. To hang, plug in and flick a switch on 8 motifs, put the lights in the Xmas tree, plug in and flick a switch, and also hang some battery powered lights in the trees (and remove) Our first quote COST £3500 Which we felt was excessive. We did find a local installer, Cl...

VANDALISED XMAS LIGHTS IN WATERLOOVILLE

Who are the 'low life' who hate Waterlooville so much that they don't want festive lighting in the precinct? The volunteers from the Events team have spent a lot of money and time to try and make Waterlooville look festive but having seen what some 'people' think about it makes you wonder why we bother. Today we went to change the batteries in the tree lights as some were not working. The reason was that the battery casings had been torn/cut off so the lights no longer worked. Councillor Mike Sceal went into the tree by Nat West to locate a connection further up and managed to connect another casing in the tree, but the lights in the tree by Lloyds bank could not be fixed. If you see something untoward or if you see the lights not working let us know. We had hoped to put battery lights in all the trees in Waterlooville precinct next year but if they are to be vandalised is it worth it??

SUMMER FETE SUCCESS

The sun shone and the families came to see the 80 stalls, arena events, animals, dog show, horse and carriage, etc etc. What a fabulous day. Being a volunteer with Waterlooville Events team it was an exhausting day but also had a sense of satisfaction that we had achieved it for another year. The day started at 7am to put up our gazebo, then getting the toilets in place and then the stalls on the field. It calmed until we had to get them off at the end of the day. So home at 5pm for relaxation. 18 volunteers ran the day. Many before hand - booking stalls; organising arena; doing the relevant paperwork with various authorities; finding the funding; etc etc. What we need are more volunteers. Why don't you help. Many hands make light work!! Be an elf in the xmas grotto, or even be a santa!! Why not help with the Xmas event?? or help us with the brand new event in May Waterlooville Carnival in the...

Waterlooville Events Team

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