No Ho, Ho, Ho this year as switch-on cancelled
Christmas lights will be going up across East Kilbride and Strathaven this year but there won’t be any official switch-on.
With re s t r i c t i ons on mass gat her i ngs expected to be in place for the foreseeable f uture, South Lanarkshire Council have taken the decision not to organise the annual switch-ons for 2020.
Families, friends along with their lovedones usually gather in the Village at the end of November to kick-off the festive seasons’ activities, however it will not be the case this year.
T h e u n c e r t a i nt y a r o u n d t h e t y p e o f events that could be held in November and the significant risk that tighter restrictions could be re-imposed - which would result in cancellation costs - have been sited as reasons behind the decision.
Executive director of community and ent er pr i s e, Michael McGlynn, has s ai d the council is however “still determined to spread a bit of festive cheer” so the traditional trees and lights erected by the council in C a mb u s l a n g , C a r l u k e , E a s t K i l b r i d e , Hamilton, Lanark and Rutherglen will be displayed as normal.
It is also understood that the communityrun lights and decorations in 14 other towns and villages will also still be put up this year.
Planning and preparation for the events hasn’t been able to take place as normal due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the council’s response to it.
Mr McGlynn, said: “We are still determined to spread a bit of festive cheer this year but I am sure everyone recognises the challenges we face.
“In particular, we just cannot be certain about what type of events we would be able to hold this year.
“At this stage, we would normally have completed around 80 per cent of the work required for the switch-on events to take place, but we have been unable to do so this year because of the impact of Covid-19.”
The c o unci l ’s l i g ht i ng uni t nor mall y support the 14 community-run events but they have asked that the usual celebrations around the lights being switched on don’t take place.
Mr McGlynn added: “Unfortunately, it is unlikely that there will be the resources to be able to support these events in 2020 and we would not be recommending that any community group continue with their plans in the normal fashion.
“We w o u l d n o t s u p p o r t a n y s o c i a l gatherings for Christmas events this year.
“We are still looking into a number of ways of highlighting that the lights are switchedon, and we will communicate t his with everyone when we have the details.”