The Christmas Lights Switch On

 

This year´s Lights Switch on welcomed hundreds!

Hundreds of People gathered together in Preston City Centre  last night to switch on the Christmas Lights and enjoy numerous concerts organised by the City Council.

Despite the cold weather Preston´s Flag market welcomed people of all ages wanting to participate in the popular event which is already the city´s tradition.

Everyone patiently waited for all the performers and the final big Switch On which was originally planned for 6.30pm but ended up running fifteen minutes late.

“I come here every year and I must say I never get bored of it” says Mike, 33, from Garstang Road.

The programme this year was extremely interesting including a multi-million selling tenor Russell Watson who was the last to perform and Matt Cardle, widely known X-Factor winner who despite the winter cold made it to Preston and sounded amazing as always.

He later apologised for his bad throat and the impact it had on his vocals. He also said he didn´t want to let anyone down.

Matt Cardle´s latest single which he performed at the event

Although the concert´s organisers left the two biggest artists for the very end of the evening, all of the performers did their very best to please the crowd.

“All the artists were amazing and I think everyone enjoyed themselves judging from the applause each gig received” says Monica,28,  from Fulwood.

The artists  line up was impressive also in numbers,  inviting 17 artists/groups , including  Be Minor-former Britain´s Got Talent contestants, Forbidden Juice, Honey Ryder and Street Monkies -a dance group which originated from Preston and is growing in popularity not only in the UK but also overseas.

The show hosts, Real Radio  presenters teased the Monkies to comment on their nearest future plans which they knew were going to be big but the group stayed focused and didn´t want to reveal all the details.

“We have so much going on in our lives right now, including performing in America, but right now we wanted to focus on tonight because it´s an absolute pleasure to be invited for such a fantastic evening!” said one of the group members.

The City Council seemed pleased with the outcome of the whole evening, keeping almost up to schedule and without any trouble.

“We are very satisfied with Saturday´s event. Everything went smoothly and I actually think it was one of the best Christmas Lights Switch Ons we have ever had. Up to 12 hundred people joined us and there was no single incident reported”, said Mark Whittle, the events manager at Preston Business Improvement District.

Number of Police officers  kept the city centre safe especially around the back exit where a crowd of people waited for all the performers to leave the stage.

“The police officers patrolling the space actually got to go home early because there was nothing to do after the concerts. The public respected us and we are very grateful for it” added Mr. Whittle.

Did you join us to celebrate the Big Switch On? Tag yourself in the group picture HERE
 

Here, you can see in the slide show, the day as it progressed