A STALWART of the Weaverham community has said that he was honoured to be asked to switch on the village’s Christmas Lights.

Barry Starnes, who is celebrating the 30th anniversary of opening Weaverham Hardware this year, was invited to kickstart the festivities by parish councillor John Taylor.

And it is sure to be a moment that Barry will never forget as he looks forward to many more years of helping the people of Weaverham.

“I got the call from John Taylor who wanted to thank me for 30 years of hard work in the shop,” said Barry.

“He said that I had helped the Weaverham community behind the scenes for many years as well as supporting local events.

“Because of this, he said that the council would love it if I could come down and switch on the village’s Christmas lights.”

Barry was joined at the Lime Avenue lights switch on by many members of the Weaverham community.

And here, young and old were able to welcome the festive period in style as they watched the village Christmas tree light up against the dark sky.

Northwich Guardian:

“It was quite an honour just to be asked to switch on the lights and it was definitely a proud moment for me,” he added.

“Cllr Gillian Edwards introduced me to the crowd and told them a bit about me and how I had worked in the town for such a long time.

“She then told to push the lever down and sure enough, the lights came on.”

Speaking about the light switch on, Cllr Edwards added: “We asked Barry not only because of his fabulous achievement of 30 years trading in Weaverham, but because he is such a nice and friendly man.

“My role as ward councillor is to promote the brilliant work of local traders and what they do for the community.

“The lights switch on as a whole was excellent, and it worked a lot better holding it at Lime Avenue.

“We had children from the three schools in the village singing Christmas carols and there was plenty of mulled wine, mince pies and gingerbread to go around.”