March will be lit up for Christmas 2025 despite spiralling budget

March will be lit up for Christmas this December – but how the switch-on event will look is up in the air.

Councillors discussed the Christmas lights briefly at their meeting on Monday night when town clerk Sarah Lemmon once again pointed to rocketing costs.

Last month she told members the 2024 switch-on was likely to blow its budget of £20,000 by at least £5,000 and feared this year’s event would be even more expensive.

She told this week’s meeting that a quote from insurers Zurich for insuring the trailer used on the switch-on night had not yet come in, but she expected it to make a “huge difference” to the budget.

Cllr Hannah Orbell, who is on the council’s Christmas lights committee, circulated an email to all members in her absence from the meeting, seeking councillors views on whether the event should be cancelled for 2025 and that the town just had the lights.

But Cllr Jan French said: “We don’t want to act like Scrooge over the lights.”

She said there had to be a switch-on event and suggested other ways of saving money, including buying the Christmas tree from a Wisbech supplier instead of from Thetford Forest, which would save a lot of money.

Cllr Kim French, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of mayor Gary Christy, suggested that members did not need to make a decision there and then.

She said it was difficult to make decisions on where savings could be made and suggested deferring the discussion to next month.

Ms Lemmon said she would have more information on potential costs including the insurance quote by then.

Cllr Kim French said: “The general consensus is we are still working towards a Christmas lights event.”

Members agreed that was the case.

There had been suggestions to combine the march Christmas Market and the switch-on event to try to keep costs down, but Cllr Jan French explained that was just not possible because of the logistics involved in swapping traders and bringing in activities in time for the switch-on.

Cllr Martin Field paid tribute to Ms Lemmon for all the hardwork she puts in to ensure the switch-on is a success he said: “She does so much to make it a good night.”

Ms Lemmon said: “I would like to say it’s a pleasure, but it is quite stressful. But it is lovely when it all comes together on the night and everyone loves it. Feedback from people has been very very positive.”