A VIRTUAL Christmas lights switch on will be taking place in Newbury this week.

Newbury Business Improvement District arranged for the thirty-five-foot tree to be erected in the Market Place, just in time to announce the news of their upcoming virtual Christmas lights switch on.

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Described by the BID (better known as Visit Newbury), as ‘a mini virtual switch-on', the town’s Christmas lights are due to be turned on at 7.00pm on Friday, November 20.

The event video is scheduled to be streamed on Visit Newbury’s Facebook page from 6.45pm on Friday and it will be a nudge to their recent “’Tis the Season to Shop Local” campaign, encouraging residents to support local businesses this Christmas.

The Mayor of Newbury, Councillor Elizabeth O’Keeffe, will deliver her annual Christmas speech on camera, with a countdown to the moment when the lights come on, a montage of Christmas lights across the town centre, and a good dose of festive music.

In addition to the virtual lights switch-on, and following the success of the recent Halloween Trail, the BID will also be joining forces once again with Parkway Shopping and Kennet Shopping to deliver a Christmas window themed trail.

The competitive route will be open to the public after the second set of national restrictions have been lifted, with a provisional start date of Saturday, December 5.

The competition is scheduled to run through to Thursday, December 31, to provide participants with plenty of time to complete the trail over the festive period.

CEO of Newbury BID, Melissa Hughes, said: “We’re delighted to share the news of our mini virtual Christmas lights switch-on.

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"This year has been such a challenging one for so many members of our community and the last thing we wanted was to appear as though we were cancelling Christmas in the town centre!

"Covid can’t beat our Christmas spirit and we’ve adapted to make the special switch-on moment safe using digital platforms with streaming capabilities.

"Stay at home for now, and Christmas will be ready and waiting for you in the town centre when you return!”