In the midst of a second lockdown, thousands of people in Stone and around the world tune in to watch Stone virtual Christmas lights switch on.
The A Little Bit of Stone Facebook page lit up with comments last night as we premiered a virtual Christmas light switch on that had been put together by Olivia Bethell and Amber Mottershead in conjunction with Stone Town Council.
Olivia and Amber told A Little Bit of Stone how they came up the idea for the virtual switch on:
“Whilst sat in The Lounge we looked out on to the high street and realised how sad it would be that the light switch on was not going ahead this year so decided, like everything this year, we would create a virtual event.
We took the idea to Jill Hood and she was excited to make it happen. We are so happy with the response to the video. The comments on the video have been incredible, seeing that people have watched it in places as far as Australia and Italy is fantastic. What was nice to see and something we had never thought of before, were the people thanking us for the video who never get to see the lights regardless of the pandemic.
Residents that have mobility issues or mental health problems where large crowds are a problem for them have never seen the lights be switched on. They have reached out to thank us that this year that was finally made possible for them. We have a lot of ideas for a 2021 video so definitely hope that we can turn this into a yearly event.”
Stone Tourism and Town Promotion Chairman Councillor Jill Hood added:
“It’s a great feeling to realise how successful the virtual Christmas Lights Switch On was, especially as I was feeling so down at the prospect of Stone town council not being able to hold the hugely popular event which annually everyone looks forward to.
The magic of Paul Warwick’s Funfair and the Combined Schools choir entertaining the crowds bringing in hundreds of people to the High Street watching the fumbling’s and fun of Father Christmas trying to switch on the lights with the plunger taking at least 3 attempts, with the children all screaming along with the countdown.
When the two students approached me and suggested their idea to me I had a moment’s doubt but spoke to the Stone Town Clerk and sold it to him ( I think when he knew it wouldn’t cost the council anything he definitely warmed to the idea).
The first stage of the film was meeting up with Paul Mitchell of Christmas Lights Plus an old friend of the council who we work very closely with.
At 5am one Monday morning, myself councillor Jonathon Powell, Olivia, Amber and Jose Camacho of The Mill all filmed a section of the High Street as Paul and his son Luke switched on the lights long enough for us to film.
Jose took the beautiful ariel shots with his drone and the rest is history.
Watching Dolly-Day-Dream and Santa take over the farcical duty of the countdown was such fun with the short script written by Stone Town Lion Dave Handley.
Watching the film was an emotional experience, firstly at the sight of the empty High Street but also watching the fantastic films sent in. The excitement of the children shouting out their countdowns and the students signing was perfect and all made towards such a happy feeling.
All of the people I’ve mentioned gave their services absolutely free such is the community spirit in our town. Not an animal or child was harmed or a penny of public money spent.
My biggest thanks go to Amber and Olivia for making the film and to A Little Bit of Stone for making sure everyone was able to watch it.”
Here are just some of the messages that we received, you can read the full comments here: – Facebook Video Post Link
Selection of Facebook comments:
Jjane Burrows Lovely idea watching from 🇮🇹 Italy . Let’s hope I get back to see them live .
Julie Scott Proud to be Stone born and bred! Well done to our town council 💕
Joan Lawton So emotional 😭 but lovely idea! Xxx
Wendy Irving Well done to all for making such a lovely video. Brilliant merry a Christmas one and all 🎄😘
Tiff Riley Ahh made me cry!!!! Amazing 😊😊😊😊 well done everyone
Jess Coram Made me emotional. Thanks guys. Merry Christmas 🥰🥰 xxx
Joanna Talbot Wow! That was fantastic. Thank you so much. 🥰❤️🥰❤️
Anne Yates absolutely fabulous!! loved it and makes us proud to live in Stone. Thank you to all who made it happen. 😍
John Leese That was brilliant ,well done Stone.proud to be a resident for 84years.👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻
John O’Keeffe Just moved to Stone,This will be our first of many Christmas’s in this beautiful town.🎄
Christie Lycett What a lovely video and songs 🥰🎅🤶 thank you, merry Christmas everyone ☃️🎄
Sue Watson Lovely idea – well done all. The community spirit of Stone town at its best during such a difficult time ❤🎅🎄.
Claire Parry Absolutely brilliant! Made me quite emotional but it was fab and the kids really enjoyed! Christmas can officially begin 🎅🏻🎄well done everyone involved!
Hannah Hodson We loved watching! I even had a few tears in my eyes! Thank you and Merry Christmas ❤🎄🎅
Brenda Stacey Thanks so much for doing this. Missed singing with Sue Campbell kelly choir tonight
Emma Hathaway Thank you to everyone involved….fantastic & def makes an impact & gets us in the mood.
Wishing everyone a very safe & merry Christmas 🎅🏻🎄 xx
Steve Dainty That was fantastic. A year that we will never ever forget, for obvious reasons that for the most part brought communities together and where helping each other is what makes Stone the great town it is with some great people. Be safe and have a Merry Christmas
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