Christmas lights shine brightly across the Borough
Thu, December 22, 2016
Christmas lights brought an added sparkle to the borough this festive season.
With enhanced light features across a number of towns, the entire region looks better than ever.
In Ballymoney, Church Street, with its overhanging lights ceiling, is one of the area’s most unique attractions at this time of year.
The town centre was thronged with thousands of people back in November, as the ‘toon’ was the first in the Borough to officially light up for Christmas.
In Coleraine, the Town Hall is a particularly impressive sight - with the crib scene, the tree and Christmas lights reflected on to the outside of the building.
In Ballycastle, even the seafront looks festive– thanks to the new blue and white illuminations which light up the area.
This theme continues throughout the town where new light features adorn the lamp posts.
Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre in Limavady provides a focal point for the town’s festive appearance, with the Christmas tree located in the grounds.
But have you ever wondered about how the lights and trees end up looking as good as they do?
With four main towns to cater for, as well as the provision of trees in 34 other towns and villages, Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has a mammoth task in the run up to Christmas.
The practical work on the Christmas lights begins in early October, and takes around 10 weeks to complete. This includes evenings and weekends to keep disruption to a minimum.
Throughout the Christmas period, staff and electrical contractors monitor the lighting and respond to faults and weather damage to keep the towns looking their very best.
The Mayor, Alderman Maura Hickey, said: “The entire Borough looks better than ever this year. We hope our businesses, residents and visitors can see the effort that has been put into enhancing our towns in the run up the festive period. As well as the spectacle of the Christmas lights, our main towns have provided free weekend family entertainment which is a further enticement to potential shoppers and visitors. We should be proud of our region, and what it has to offer.”
And when the Christmas period is over, removing the trees and decorations is almost as time consuming as putting them up.
It takes around three weeks to take down all of the trees and store the lights away as the countdown to Christmas begins all over again.
