A DALE village’s Christmas lights have been saved by the determined efforts of volunteers.
Cockfield’s festive display was in jeopardy of being severely cut back because of a change in rules by Durham County Council officers.
Having been told of the changes last year, Cockfield Parish Council was quick off the mark to inform village organisers, who then had more than a year to come up with solutions.
Despite their efforts, four trees will not be fitted with lights this year and some of the lamppost motifs will not be going up.
Christine Watters, of the Cockfield Christmas Lights committee, said the trees affected were in front of the primary school, the Methodist chapel and the workingmen’s club.
She added: “Unfortunately this means we will lose a major area of lighting as all four trees are close together.”
The problem arose because the trees are powered by overhead cables attached to lampposts, while the motifs have to be fitted with new brackets to make them safe.
Mrs Watters said: “We are not the type of committee that gives up easily and that is why we got in touch with Durham County Council. They came out and advised us on what to do.
“We have people who are experts – county officers, our contractors and our electricians – and we get them involved all the time. That is why we have been as successful as we have been.”
While unable to do much fundraising themselves because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the committee received cash from the Co-op Community Fund and the village’s county councillors James Coslett and Robert Potts.
This cash is being used to lay electric cables to trees further down the village green.
Mrs Watters said: “The work we are doing this year is on the village green – we can get on with things because we have permission from the parish council and Raby Estates.”
Raby Estates will also, once again, be providing a Christmas tree for the annual display. As for the area around the four trees that will be dark this year,
Mrs Watters said: “The chapel and the workingmen’s club are well lit, so they might stand out a bit more, and the school is thinking of putting something on but we are not sure of that yet.”
The committee won praise from villagers last year for its efforts despite the country still being in the grip of a pandemic lockdown.
Fellow committee member Tony Carter said: “We had a lot of compliments last year during Covid because people didn’t think it would go on.
“People have really rallied round. We had a record increase in our monthly lottery last year, and this year it has gone up even more.”
Next year will be Cockfield Christmas Lights’ 20th anniversary and the committee is planning something special to mark the occasion.
Ahead of that the committee has welcomed new members in the form of Catherine Phillips and Louise Vollans.
Mr Carter said: “Hopefully, next year we will be back to normal and we will have younger people involved with new ideas.
“That is why we are looking forward to it. It would be nice to have something different.”
