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