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Christmas Preparations Already Underway In Coleford

Fri, 17 Oct 2008

A town in the south west of England has already begun preparations for Christmas, despite there being over ten weeks to go before the festive period gets underway.

Christmas lights, snowmen and other seasonal decorations have already started to appear in Coleford, Gloucestershire thanks to the efforts of a 15-strong group of volunteers.

The town's council said festive preparations start at such an early stage because it relies on volunteers who give up their weekends to help decorate the town for free.

By volunteering to check and string up around 5,000 Christmas lights, they help save the council more than £12,000 a year.

County councillor Peter Chamberlain said: "It's all done by volunteers at the weekends, so if they didn't start now they would never get it done."

"It doesn't seem strange to us because it's happened this way for years. They all work in shifts and put in dozens of hours, but it's the best display in Gloucestershire."

Jan Marrott, secretary for the Coleford Area Partnership, which coordinates the volunteers, said: "A town near us spent something like £18,000 or £19,000 on hiring their Christmas lights last year, whereas we spend about £6,000 for insurance and hard hats and so on."

"They are a great team and really enjoy it, and if they didn't start early they just wouldn't finish in time," she added.