IT WASN’T quite the start to the Christmas festivities Worcester was expecting.
The City Council decided with just hours to go to cancel the Christmas Light Switch-on entertainment event on Saturday (November 23) due to the bad weather.
The town’s mayor Coun Mel Allcott, Father Christmas and the cast of Aladdin from Swan Theatre had been lined up to press the important button.
But with Storm Bert causing strong winds and torrential downpours throughout the weekend, the council instead switched on the lights themselves when they considered it safe to do so.
Their statement read: “Worcester City Council has reluctantly decided to cancel the Christmas Light Switch-on entertainment event on Saturday November 23 due to health and safety concerns relating to the adverse weather conditions.
“The lights will be now switched on at a suitable point during the weekend, when it is safe to do so.
“We are still looking forward to the very popular Victorian Christmas Fayre going ahead as planned from Thursday November 28 to Sunday December 1.”
The fayre is expected to attract over 150,000 visitors to Worcester across the four days.
Christmas fan Coun Allcott said: “The Victorian Fayre will bring visitors in from far and wide, providing the perfect opportunity to showcase Worcester.
I’m excited to see our Victorian-themed city with all the entertainment, the hospitality, the wares and my personal favourite, the carousel.”
During the Victorian Fayre there will be parking reserved for blue badge holders on the ground floor of St Martin’s Gate car park.
And for the quickest route into the city during the fayre, event sponsors First Bus will be running the park and ride service from Sixways Stadium to Worcester Crowngate Bus Station on Friday from 4.35pm, and all day on Saturday and Sunday.
The last park and ride service returning to Sixways will be at 10.15pm on Friday and Saturday, and 7.10pm on Sunday.
This is a change from past years, when the service ran from County Hall.
A full list of bus services is available at www.firstbus.co.uk/victorianfayre
