Peterborough’s Christmas Tree arrives in Cathedral Square

The Cathedral Square Christmas Tree was put in place last night ahead of the lights switch on.

Like last year, this year the city has a real Christmas Tree, after a few years of having an artificial decoration in the square.

Preparations for the lights switch on are now taking place.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, residents will be unable to visit Cathedral Square to see the lighting up of the city centre and the 40ft traditional Spruce Christmas tree. Instead a 15 minute pre-recorded event will be streamed online across numerous digital platforms.

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Community Radio presenter Kev Lawrence will once again be hosting the switch-on and there will be special appearances featuring local people. Father Christmas has kindly taken time out of his busy festive preparations to give a message to residents.

Residents will get the opportunity to vote for their favourite unsung hero that has been nominated by organisations and individuals they have worked with during the pandemic, with the hero with the most votes chosen to switch on this year’s Christmas Lights. To vote visit www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/pboro-unsung-hero. Voting closes 12noon Thursday 19 November 2020.

Councillor John Holdich, Leader of Peterborough City Council, said: “Don’t turn up, but tune in to Peterborough’s virtual Christmas Light switch-on event. The Christmas lights are even more important this year to bring some festive cheer to Peterborough residents. We’re delighted we were able to still let people count down with us and enjoy watching the lights being switched-on in the comfort of their own homes.”

“As we are unable to host a large scale event given the ongoing pandemic, it is going to be a scaled down 15 minute virtual event hosted online. Thank you to the participants for helping us bring some Christmas cheer to our residents and special thanks to our host Kev Lawrence, film editor Chris Pallister and of course Santa.”

Residents are reminded not to visit Cathedral Square on 2 December as this is not a live event, it has been pre-recorded to avoid any large gatherings of people.

Once Peterborough reopens, subject to government restrictions being lifted, there will also be fairground rides from 2 December as well as a Christmas craft market from 2-6 December.

To view the virtual Christmas lights switch-on event on Wednesday 2 December at 7pm visit the website and social media channels of Peterborough City Council, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Peterborough Community Radio and Peterborough Live.