Thousands join Spondon Alight celebrations

Local residents turned out in their thousands to join in the festive celebrations at this year’s Spondon Alight Christmas lights switch-on.

Fun fair rides lined the streets while a special Christmas Market with a variety of stalls popped up around the village. Children were delighted to visited Santa in his special Grotto and the lights switch-on was accompanied by a fantastic fireworks display.

The hugely-popular annual event is organised by the Spondon Traders Association. STA chairman, Mark Davis, was delighted to see another fantastic turnout for the event and has this message:

“Thanks to all of the wonderful community of Spondon, our light switch was an amazing success. The weather gods were kind to us and kept the rain away, and it seemed that most of Spondon came out to help the members of the Spondon Trader's Association celebrate Christmas.

The Mayor of Derby, Councillor Paul Pegg, was amazed at the turnout; in fact he thought that there were more people at our switch on than the City's own ceremony!

Weren't the fireworks great? I was particularly touched by the tribute to the French, with the red, white and blue. The village lights that the fireworks signalled look great as always and I think that some of the shop windows look better than ever. The stalls in the Village Hall and Liberal Club were as busy as ever with people picking up special gifts for special people, and seeing the faces of children on the fun fair rides was a wonder to behold.

I would also like to congratulate Jack Stocker from Asterdale Primary School on his tremendous design of the Robin, which is proudly displayed on the wall of the Village Club. It looks really great.

This village event couldn't happen without a lot of hard work from the members of the Trader's Association, and particularly the committee members. I would like to thank Andrew (Post Office), Ruth (Coop Funeral), Dave (Liberal Club), Carol (Crafty Ways), Helen ( Spondon Fish Bar), Tom Strachan (Village Club) and CJ Jones for all their amazing hard work, and the Neighbourhood Board and Spondon Village Partnership for their support.

But again, I would particularly like to thank everyone of the community of Spondon; it's you that makes the day so special. Finally, I’d like to wish everyone Seasons Greetings from all members of the Spondon Trader’s Association.”

See the event photos from our Facebook page below: