IT’S BEGINNING to look a lot like Christmas in Bromsgrove with a four-day festive extavaganza.
The Christmas Market in the space outside Argos gets under way today (Thursday) and as well as crafters selling their Yuletide items, there is also a host of activities for youngsters.
Tomorrow (Friday), as well as the Christmas Market from 9am to 4pm, MP Sajid Javid will be attending the celebration gathering at 11am where there will be mulled wine and mince pies.
More than 20 different traders will sell seasonal items tomorrow (Saturday) and there will be a full line-up of Christmassy entertainment before the big switch-on.
On the stage will be Chadsgrove Choir (3.30pm), Artrix SongStars Showchoir (3.50pm), Skye Hadley (4.10pm) and the Rock Choir (4.30pm).
Characters from All and Sundry’s pantomime Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood will also be milling around.
Our hero in Rio – Paralympian gold medallist Lauren Rowles – will be pushing the plunger to illuminate the town at 5.30pm.
She will be joined by Bromsgrove District Council chairman Coun Helen Jones and either side of the switch-on will be performances by Hourglass theatre.
During the switch-on, residents can also win a family film voucher to see Happy Feet at Artrix on December 19 by tweeting a Santa selfie or a pose with the Paw Patrol crew to @BDC using the #santaselfie hashtag. The Happy Feet event is preceded by a Festive Craft session with free mince pies.
On Sunday (November 20), there will be more stalls from 10am to 2pm and members of St John’s Church will be in town at 10.45am with their Early Bird Christmas Carol Service, featuring everyone’s favourite carols to enjoy and singalong to.
Throughout the weekend the team from St John’s will be collecting toys for Birmingham City Mission which aims to give out more than 3,000 gifts to children who would otherwise have nothing to open on Christmas Day.
Residents are urged to take along nearly-new toys to donate to the wonderful cause.
Rev Ray Khan from St John’s Church said: “We thought it would be a good time to not just warm up for festive season, but also to remind ourselves about the meaning of Christmas.”
Next Saturday (November 26) there will also be the ‘Illuminate Bromsgrove’ festive lantern parade which starts outside Argos at 4pm and finishes at St John’s Church where there will be a festive concert with the Orchestra of St John’s horn section.
Check out the Better Bromsgrove Together brochure at www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/brochure for more information on all the festive fun.
