Community comes together for Polmont's first Christmas light switch on

The family-friendly event, organised by Polmont Community Council, took place in the town’s Main Street on Friday evening.

‘Light Up Polmont for Christmas’ was a chance for the community to come together and get into the Christmas spirit.

Kevin Ashe, from the community council, was delighted with how the event had gone.

He said: “It was absolutely brilliant. It was mobbed and people seemed to love it.

"Recently I had joined the community council with a view to looking to organise an event and I tried to get funding.

"I applied to the Lottery and was awarded the money which was to be used for a small community event. It grew from there and got bigger.

"We had teas, coffees, hot chocolate, mince pies and a few stalls from small businesses, and live music.

"There were Christmas trees for the kids to decorate with baubles and it was good to see the Rotary Sleigh again. It used to come down Polmont, but not since the Polmont Rotary Club stopped. It was great to have Santa visit.

"We tried to make it primarily a free event – the teas and coffees and Santa were free – and then we added in a few stalls.

"There was a really good atmosphere and I think it’s something Polmont’s been needing for a while. It really captured people’s imaginations and brought people together.

"It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. It was good to see everyone come together and we had people come from some of the other villages because they’ve not got anything.”

Kevin, who was driving the organisation of the event along with Michael Stuart, said he hopes to secure funding to run another festive event next year.

He added: “We’re trying to look at funding for the next two years. We’ve not got a Christmas tree, we’ve just got a cherry tree, but it’s not the same so it would be good to look at getting a Christmas tree too. I’d like to see about holding other events during the year too.”