THOUSANDS of people flooded the Market Place at the weekend for the return of one of the town’s most popular events, the Melksham Christmas lights switch-on.
And the volunteers behind this year’s lights have been hailed as festive heroes, for yet again organising a display that is the envy of Wiltshire.
“Simply the best, better than all the rest,” said one local resident. “Well done Paul Weymouth and his team of volunteer elves.”
“A great big heartfelt thank you to the Christmas lights team,” added another, “absolutely fabulous as always, I think the whole of Melksham turned out for the switch on, makes me feel proud to live in such a great town.”
Another local said, “Paul Weymouth and all of the other volunteers deserve a medal for putting on a fantastic display and installing all the Christmas lights throughout the town. Well Done!”
And there was praise from as far as Hereford, “As always, absolutely awesome,” said a resident, “and our friends from Hereford say brilliant for a small town.”
It was the first switch-on event since 2019 – last year’s event was cancelled because of the Covid pandemic – and the town turned out in force. The Market Place, Spa Road, King Street and the High Street were heaving with people. And thousands of residents watched the festivities from home via the town council’s live feed on their Facebook page.
Switching on the lights this year were two representatives from Melksham’s Covid vaccination centre at Spencer’s, healthcare professional Andy Newman and volunteer Brian Seymour. And the pair were joined by mayor cllr Jon Hubbard and a local girl picked out from the crowd, Martha, to help count down the crowd to the big event.
Speaking to Melksham News, mayor cllr Hubbard said, “It was an absolutely outstanding event – Melksham is truly back open! The Christmas Lights Volunteer team do phenomenal work for this town to make it look amazing for the festive season. So many people enjoyed themselves. And it felt exceptionally busy! It was a busy as ever, if not busier. The feedback I was getting from everyone on the night was incredible – people told me that they were having a wonderful time.
“I’m so grateful to everyone involved – our team Christmas lights team, the council staff, all the volunteers involved were just exceptional. My sincere thanks to them all. They all helped to put on an absolutely spectacular day.”
Also on the day, crowds of people browsed stalls at the Christmas Fayre in the Assembly Hall and Market Place. One of the organisers of the fayre, Sarah Land, told Melksham News, “It went really well! We had some great feedback from stall holders and visitors. Everyone did an exceptional job bringing the event together and it was fantastic to be back after cancelling last year’s fayre. “Thank you to all the volunteers that helped to set up, and thank you to all the stall holders and the public for supporting the event.”
There were also fairground rides and games for children in the Market Place, visits to Santa’s grotto in the Town Hall and a DJ playing Christmas tunes. The team behind The Market Tavern – the new pub opening soon in the Market Place – raised £1,250 for the Melksham Christmas Lights Group and the Royal British Legion by selling hot dogs and mulled wine.
Following the event, the Melksham Christmas Lights Group thanked their sponsors. They said, “[Thank you to] our sponsors – Melksham Mini Mix, New Resource Recruitment, Meads of Melksham and Melksham Scaffolding for helping make all of this possible, and Somerset Care for making a donation to assist with Santa’s visit at the Town Hall.”
