Chigwell residents en masse attend big light switch on at All Saints Church

December 07, 2020

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On a chilled night on the start of the second week of advent (6th December 2020), over 100 local people from Chigwell Row and the surrounding areas, met at All Saints Church for an evening of Christmas Carols and mince-pies.

Video by Sam Cater

Of course the night was even more special as it was the day that Chigwell Row finally had a set of Christmas lights they could call their own. The special light display was not one that was funded by local council or councillors, none of whom contributed a penny. In fact, these lights were funded in the main by local people and were installed by local volunteers tired of seeing other areas lit up for the festive period and our community go without.

Visitors were made to queue outside in orderly fashion, in social-bubbles of six, while wearing facemasks. On entering anyone without a facemask was given one to wear or were excluded and all visitors were required to sanitize their hands.

Inside the event a through-route was demarcated and kept clear throughout the event so that people could ingress and egress safely. Stewards ensured visitors remained in their bubbles throughout the course of the event.

On a night of festive fun, visitors were treated to the sound of traditional carols sung by the All Saint's Choir, had free tea, coffee or mulled wine with cake via Lambview Heights, were able to view and get on the Chigwell Yellow Bus, had professional pictures taken next to our community's glowing nativity and had a bit of a dance to some of the biggest Christmas hits from across generations.

This year Ann Rice a 91 year old resident was chosen to be honoured with the role of switching on the lights. She has been a community stalwart for many years and a resident of Chigwell since 1963.

We are hoping to hold a bigger event next year if we are out of the current programme of lockdowns and hope to also increase the number and type of Christmas lights around All Saints and other areas of our local community.

Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the Chigwell Row Residents Association, said:

"The Christmas lights this year are a real community achievement.

"Despite difficulties and disagreements eventually the whole community got together to brighten up our Christmas during a most difficult pandemic.

"Our event was approved by Essex Public Health and so far we have had no incidents so I guess we can say it was a real success and now we look forward to next year."

The following people deserve special mention for their efforts in making this project a success: