THOUSANDS of residents packed into the main streets of Calne, Chippenham and Devizes on Friday and Saturday to celebrate the towns’ Christmas Lights switch-on ceremonies.

The events took place in fairly mild weather for the time of year and were only marred by light rain shower and not fog or high winds.

In Chippenham, the town’s mayor, Cllr Liz Alstrom, thanked the people who turned out to watch the Christmas Lights switch-on ceremony in the Market Place.

She said: “Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Christmas Lights switch on yesterday.

“It was wonderful getting to explore all the fun events we had on in town and meet so many residents and visitors.”

One of the highlights of the evening was to see Santa abseiling down the front of Chippenham Museum.

He joined Chippenham’s mayor, Cllr Liz Alstrom, for the count down to switch on the lights on the main stage before she headed down to the riverside to open the Christmas Light Trail.

Residents and visitors were also able to browse the stalls at a vintage market and the regular outdoor Charter Market.

There was also a Snow Globe, and live music and dance on the main stage in the Market Place featuring the Dance Academy, NJ Dance, the Rock Choir and the Lyneham Military Wives Choir.

The Christmas Light Trail in partnership with Melt Productions opened on Saturday and runs until December 4 at varying times on The Island just off Chippenham high street.

The Christmas Festival events also included a performance of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol at the Neeld Community & Arts Centre and An Anonymous Travelling Market.

All monies raised from the switch-on event will be donated to the Youth Cancer Trust.

In Calne, thousands thronged the main streets for the Christmas Lights switch-on at 5.30pm on Saturday at the end of an afternoon of live music and street entertainment.

These included trips for children to Santa’s Grotto, indoor stalls, a Punch & Judy show, Light Up Angel Stiltwalkers, live music from the Decibelles, Nativity Donkeys, Sass Circus Skills, and a Lantern Parade.

The town's carnival princess, Eleanor, aged seven, helped Calne's Mayor, Cllr Tony Trotman, and Santa to switch-on the lights.

Stephen Nash, Calne Town Council’s director of services, said the switch-on was not without its hiccups.

“It was fine except there was a hiccup inside the town hall, where one of the stallholders turned off the switch for the curtain of light outside and it didn’t come on on time.”

But the event marked a big change from last year, when the town council postponed the switch-on ceremony to December 4 because of a bad weather forecast of snow and high winds.

One of the centrepieces of this year’s celebrations was the town’s Christmas tree donated by Lord Lansdowne and Bowood House & Gardens .

It was put in place by Phil Haines and the team at Haines Construction who collect and erect it with support from Bowood House estates staff.

In Devizes, hundreds of residents and visitors watched the Devizes Christmas Lights display being switched-on in the Market Place on Friday and toured the town’s Winter Festival on Friday and Saturday.

Amber Murray, of Devizes Town Council, said: “It all went to plan. We used the same route as last year as it worked well.

“There was a lovely community feel to it and hundreds of people came out to watch the lantern parade and to see the lights being switched on. It was really well attended.”