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The St Peter Port Christmas Lights charity has overcome an "uphill struggle" to illuminate Town this festive season thanks to the generosity of islanders.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the annual Town Centre Christmas lights display was under threat, with donations around £5,000 short of the £36,000 target.
Without the money for safety checks, the charity said it was facing “difficult decisions” to scale back the number of streets it could safely illuminate.
However, the call to arms has been met by islanders and supporting businesses, who have helped the charity over the line.
“This year we faced an uphill struggle to reach our funding target in time,” said the charity’s chair, Jax Robin. “This makes me even more appreciative of the continuing support you have provided in this, my fifth year of being the face and voice of the charity.”
Pictured: The Christmas Lights switch-on is scheduled for Saturday 27 November.
It is a happy conclusion to Mrs Robin’s time at the head of the charity, which will be looking for new leadership in 2022.
“After five years I feel it is time for the charity to have new leadership and I wish to become involved with something new,” she said. “We will let you [the public] know as soon as we are able what is planned for going forward to ensure the continuity of Christmas lights in town.”
Each year the charity performs safety checks on over 30 festive arrays, hundreds of light strings and display rigs, before overseeing a six week, out-of-hours installation programme.
That preparation will culminate in the Christmas Lights switch-on, which is scheduled for Saturday 27 November. “The lights provide an important feel-good factor for the island’s Christmas economy,” said Mrs Robin.
Pictured: Dawn Gallienne from Guernsey Post with Jax Robin. Guernsey Post has worked in partnership with the charity this year by delivering donation envelopes for free.
She continued: “Now more than ever, we need a full lights display to help people feel that normality is returning after what has been another difficult year for so many islanders.”
In the meantime, Mrs Robin said that any donations received over and above this year’s target will be carried forward towards the 2022 festive display.
Anyone interested in leading the charity from 2022 is asked to get in touch with Mrs Robin by emailing jaxr@cwgsy.net or calling her on 07781 139007.
Pictured top: Part of the 2020 Christmas Lights display (Credit: Paul Mariess).
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