WITNEY will be sparkling with its seasonal lights when they are formally switched on this Friday, November 28, with less than a month to go before Christmas Day.

It promises to be a full early evening of fun for the family, starting from 5pm, and continuing until 8pm.

The organisers, Witney Town Council, have lined up exhibitions, displays, live street entertainment, and, of course, plenty of Christmas music and carols.

Star of the show will undoubtedly be Witney’s Winter Princess, 11-year-old Amber Tarrant, from Madley Park School, in a resplendent costume made by former town mayor Chrissie Curry.

Amber is the fourth princess, chosen each year from a different primary school in the town.

TV celebrity Mark Wells, of Holby City, Conservative Party leader and Witney MP David Cameron, along with Father Christmas and town mayor Alvin Adams will be sharing the limelight with her when they gather on a platform in the Market Square to switch on those lights.

The event marks the run-in to Christmas, with many shops opening late for the occasion, but a full programme of amusement and fun has also been organised.

It ranges from a an inflatable assault course in the Langdale Hall car park, a bouncy castle in the Market Square, and vintage vehicles and steam traction engine in the High Street to street strollers, the Fox FM radio van for live broadcasting, a model and collectors’ club in the Langdale Hall, a charity fair in the Corn Exchange and a Rotary Club pig roast.

The Witney Gazette will also be at the event, giving away free hot chocolate with every copy of the paper.