The 6^th annual Canford Heath Community Lights Switch-on event lived up to its  promise to be the biggest and best yet and we were not disappointed.

As usual the event was organised by ARCH in collaboration with members of the Canford Heath Community Centre, The Pilot Pub, Hub on the Heath Café, C-Star Cosplay, BH17 and Beacon Centre; together with support from many other local groups and residents including Men’s Shed. 

This year the event took place on Friday 6^th December.

It began in the Neighbourhood Centre at 4:45pm, with mulled wine and mince pies provided by Nicholas O’Harra. To get residents into the Christmas spirit the Poole Borough Band played a selection of Christmas carols. This was followed by a torchlight parade along Adastral Road, arriving in Adastral Square at 6pm. The fun continued in the Square with stalls and entertainment including a DJ, face-painting, glitter tattoos, Super Hero characters, carol singing, and a visit from the Poole Rotary’s Santa Train. There was also a FREE Santa’s grotto in the Community Centre provided by the Community Centre volunteers, although this prebooked event sold out very quickly.

This popular event proved to be the perfect way to herald in the festive season and bring together friends and family with the wider community to celebrate together.

In addition, a huge thank you to everyone who came to  Canford Heath Christmas Lights Switch On 2024,  we hope that you enjoyed it. There are so many people to thank in this joint effort between ARCH, The Hub on the Heath, The Pilot, The Canford Heath Community Centre, The BH17 Club and the Mavericks Drama Group.

So here goes. – A big thank you to:

• The Pilot Knit & Natter Group for sponsoring the Christmas Tree.
• Alan Hawkins of Poole Men’s Shed for testing all the battery boxes (60+ of them) and putting in all the batteries!
• Parkstone Rotary Club who went above and beyond to make it possible to be there.
• To Nicholas O’Hara Funeral Care for providing free mulled wine and minced pies.
• To all our lovely volunteers who helped on the night, and the lovely volunteers who turned up at the Asda end at 2pm on Friday  to get the lights up in time for that evening, after we were let down by a company who were going to do it for us.
• To Mr Pops Balloons, Tom’s Funky Faces, The Poole Borough Band and the Cos players who brought a Dalek, Elsa Spider-Man and many other characters.

 Take a look at these images which help to capture this popular event.