Saturday 30 November 2019

Turning on the Christmas Lights

There was a huge crowd in the town square last night for the turning on of the Christmas Lights.
Inside the marquee there were stalls selling food and drink - Brecon Beacons beer, fancy gin, the Fudge Shop, Welsh honey, fancy cakes and chocolates - as well as local groups. Hay School was selling Christmas wreaths in red and green, made by the children, and Christmas tree decorations. One stall was doing "guess the number of wine corks in the bottle" to win some wine. There were raffle tickets for a hamper. The Fairtrade group were there, with their new banner, to remind people that Hay is a Fairtrade town. Hay2Timbuktu had pictures of what they've been doing to help the high schools in Timbuktu.
Outside the marquee there were food stalls selling a vast variety of take away food - Indian, goat curry, Parsnip-ship's organic and vegetarian food, Welsh pizzas, mulled wine, and more.
The Community Choir sang carols, beautifully, introduced by George the Town Cryer. A procession holding big white lanterns, stuffed with fairy lights, arrived and mingled with the crowd - there had been a lantern making workshop at the library earlier in the afternoon.
I still wasn't feeling 100% so I slipped away before the countdown to the lights going on started - but it's the biggest crowd I've seen yet.

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