Christmas Event - Thankyous

This is a message from Alyson Lownie and the Christmas Committee who organise the Stockbridge Christmas Lights and the "turning on" event.

Not even Storm Darragh could dampen the success of the Stockbridge Christmas switch on 2024, didn't it go well? Stockbridge Primary Choir were note perfect and Santa and Revd Joe plied the plunger with a success that Piers Morgan can only dream of. Thanks to the businesses who fund the entertainment elements of the event, the street was buzzing with excited children from Santa’s Tractor Parade arrival to the final mince pie. A special mention to Dave and Mandy of Prego who have schemed and planned and worked tirelessly with our other businesses to put on a real Christmas spectacle.

The lighting for the Christmas period is organised by SPC through the Christmas Lights Committee who every year have to raise the funds to pay for the lights. We apply for grants and ask for donations and we never know in advance what our final income will be. We are grateful to every one of our donors whether they give us their time, let us use their electricity or give us money, they all enable us to light Stockbridge. I would like to name check them here and hope you will take an opportunity to thank them personally.

Access Care
Robin Colenso & Chrissie Quayle
Richard Foord
Hampshire County Council through our councillor David Drew
Mary Matthews
River Dental
Robjents
Robinsons
St Peter’s Church
Stockbridge Community Cinema
Stockbridge Parish Council
Stockbridge Primary School
Stockbridge Town Hall
The Hub
The Three Cups
The Little Whisky Shop
The White Hart
Trout’n’About
and of course all the residents and businesses who host a tree

Finally, my apologies to those whose trees did not arrive until after our Switch On. Those of you who have been part of the tree scheme from the start will know that the first tranche of trees was bought about a decade ago and that they suffer from being out in all weather and from being repeatedly put up, brought down, and stored. When the Stockbridge Christmas Committee took on the task of lighting Stockbridge at Christmas it took the decision that it would ask for payment for a first tree but would replace trees from funds when necessary. We update and upgrade the trees and street lights every year as our funds permit and last year bought 6 new trees which we hoped would cover all replacements needed this year. Unfortunately we had a number of trees damaged and this meant that we simply did not have enough trees. The good news is that we did have just enough funds in reserve to make up the shortfall and trees were provided, albeit a little late.

I hope it gave you joy to see Stockbridge sparkle and that you enjoyed the Switch On as a lovely coming together of the greater Stockbridge community. If you would like to contribute to next year’s Stockbridge Christmas here are the details of the bank account:

Stockbridge Parish Council
Sort code:60-83-01
Acct: 20415785

Please give the reference Xmas so that it does not disappear into the general SPC pot, and please give your name so that we can acknowledge it.