BARNARD Castle’s Christmas lights switch on will be historic this year, but unfortunately few people will be around to see it because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Nevertheless, the town council is planning a “virtual” switch on to keep people’s spirits up ahead of the festive season.
Cllr Ian Kirkbride said: “The one criticism I have had about the Christmas lights has been ‘why don’t they get switched on together?’. But they have never had the technology or the equipment to do that.
“Now we have, which is significant. For the first time ever we have one switch to turn them all on at the same time.
“It would have been a wonderful thing to do – to have a crowd around the Christmas tree at the Post Office when Santa turns on the lights, but we can’t have that.”
He added that the plan was still in its infancy but the town council is planning a virtual switch on.
He said: “I thought what if we have a virtual switch on by a celebrity. Because it is virtual the person who presses the switch doesn’t need to be next to the Christmas tree. It could be the town mayor, the town clerk, the town crier, pub quizmaster Bob Garton – what if it was Dominic Cummings?”
Cllr Kirkbride said the plan was to find a way to have the event streamed with volunteers making a visual record of the switch on throughout the town at the same time.
He added that the current situation meant that the switch on should be “earlier rather than later” but the date would be determined by when the main Christmas tree is installed. People can follow progress of the switch on by following Barnard Castle Town Council on Facebook.
