Thousands of people came out to see the fantastic lights lit across St Helens and Earlestown town centres over two weekends of entertainment showcasing the very best of the borough with local band The K’s leading the festivities.

New lighting fixtures made the towns shine bright on traditional real Christmas trees supplied by Rainford’s Christmas Trees thanks to sponsors who are supporting the borough’s key regeneration and transformation projects including:

·       English Cities Fund, who are partners in the regeneration of St Helens Borough

·       Vinci Construction, who has been appointed contractors for St Helens town centre regeneration

·       Mott McDonald, who are leading on transport schemes across the borough

·       Project Centre, who are supporting a parking review for St Helens town centre

·       Balfour Beatty, who are currently constructing the Parkside Link Road

Earlestown band The K’s had a rousing welcome home as they headlined both St Helens and Earlestown light switch on events, with the Mayor of St Helens Borough Councillor Lynn Clarke officially lighting up the towns.

Councillor Richard McCauley, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning, said: “It’s a real partnership piece of work to give our town centres that festive touch and we’re very grateful for the generosity of many of our key partners who are working on transformational projects for our borough to help add some Christmas cheer to our town centres. It’s great too that so many people continue to turn out and support our town centre businesses – with bringing more stores under one roof at Church Square shopping centre already driving rising visitors to St Helens town centre I hope Christmas will prove an extra boost for traders.”

Councillor Anthony Burns, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, Culture and Heritage, added: “We’re so pleased to see so many people come out to back our borough’s brightest talents at the switch on events over the last two weekends. Our borough’s rich cultural community has been well represented in the festivities with lots of opportunities for all the family to have fun and support our town centre businesses at the same time.”

This Christmas make sure to support local businesses by shopping locally and helping support our borough’s economy.

And this festive period once again visitors to council run car parks can enjoy free parking at the weekend. For more information on town centre parking visit www.sthelens.gov.uk/carparks