Weymouth and Portland Lions Club and the Weymouth BID have unveiled plans for an exciting Christmas event in Weymouth Town Centre on Saturday, 1st December, “Weymouth’s Christmas Present”…. With a hint of Christmas past!
The event will cover the entire town centre, with a main attraction being a fantastic Giant Snow Globe outside Debenhams, where people will be instantly transported – for free – to their very own Christmas Wonderland.
Santa will be in his Grotto in Cineworld; a giant Christmas tree will be in the Square and a stage and arena will provide exciting entertainment throughout the day. There will be wonderful entertainment at both ends of St. Mary Street and along St Thomas Street, including festive carol singing and a Storyteller cave where a curious little fellow will stimulate young imaginations with his mysterious Christmas tales. Elsewhere, horrible Ebenezer Scrooge will try to tempt children with tasty humbugs and cuddly toys.
Festivities will be opened at 10am by the Mayor, who will then lead the parade in a classic car, followed by a charming children’s Christmas and nativity parade featuring one of Weymouth’s very own donkeys, with baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all the nativity characters. Stalls will sell festive Christmas fayre, and an amazing children’s lantern parade around the town in the afternoon will end in the Square, with the Mayor switching on the spectacular Christmas tree lights.
The new Weymouth BID was recently given its go-ahead, with the Mission Statement of “Making a Great Town Greater”. The new BID Board recognises that its role is to support events created by others, so it approached the Weymouth and Portland Lions Club to come up with something special for Christmas. The Lions are uniquely qualified for the task; they already organise the Beach Motocross and the Christmas day harbour swim, and many successful town centre entertainment events. Following meetings with the BID, ideas were kicked around and plans developed.
BID Chairman, Richard Lamb said, “We’re all really excited about this and we are very pleased that the Weymouth and Portland Lions Club agreed to organise this event on our behalf. We fully anticipate that this will be the beginning of a long term strategic partnership.
“We want the shops to become involved too”, said Richard, “the Board’s job is to get people into the town, where they will be drawn into our excellent shops. We will be encouraging all sorts of things they wish to do, such as competitions, fancy dress and festive window dressings, and I know that an amusing Elf Hunt is already being organised, which is fantastic. I am confident that the day will be a great success and a spectacular start to the Weymouth Christmas shopping experience”.
Weymouth and Portland Lions Club President, Roger Hogbin said, “We are a service club and our main objective is to help people less fortunate than ourselves, our motto is ‘We Serve’. We organise events such as this to enable us to raise the money to do so and to encourage fun and enjoyment in the community. We are delighted that the BID have asked us to organise what promises to be an event that will certainly get things cracking for Christmas”
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