FESTIVE joy was brought to Chippenham courtesy of Winter Olympic gold medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean as the pair turned on the town’s Christmas lights.

Hundreds of people attended the annual event and witnessed Santa Claus join in the celebrations after abseiling down the side of the Angel Hotel for the big moment, which took place shortly after 6.30pm on Friday.

“Santa abseiling down? That’s certainly original, he’s usually going down the chimney,” said Dean, who along with Torvill are performing in pantomime Cinderella at the Bristol Hippodrome Theatre next month,.

“There were some great performances before the light switch-on and Chippenham is a beautiful little town.”

“We were surprised how many people turned out because it was a cold evening but at least it wasn’t raining,” added Torvill. “I wish we could have seen the town in the daylight.”

Organised by the BID, live entertainment started from 4pm on a stage located outside The Buttercross, which included performances by local performers Burbank Duo, Clogs Musical Theatre and the Chippenham Dance Academy.

There was also creation stations at Emery Gate Shopping Centre, as well as festive story-telling at The Neeld Community and Arts Centre and a number of walk-about characters for people to interact with.

Caroline Prades who attended the event, said: “I’ve been going every year for about 16 years but this one is the best one.

“The atmosphere is amazing and I think they have aimed it at little children, it’s definitely come back with a bang.”