BEAMINSTER entered into the Christmas spirit in a blaze of light and colour at the annual Lights Festival.

The honour of flicking the switch to illuminate the town Square on Friday evening went to five-year-old Natasha Harris, a pupil at St Mary’s Primary School, who had created the winning angel design for the posters.

Father Christmas led his grand procession from the fire station in Clay Lane down to the Square.

But then Santa left his sleigh and met children in his double-decker grotto – a Routemaster bus owned by landlord of The Greyhound, Chris Arnold.

There was singing from Raucous Chorus and music from the Phoenix Brass Band as people browsed stalls and enjoyed seasonal food and drink.

The festival is organised by a group of local mums and committee member Angela Lindsay said thanks were due to everybody who took part and who supported the event.

“It went very well and there was really good support from everybody, “ she said.

“We had the bus as Santa’s grotto and there were queues all night for that.

“We are just a group of mums who want to do something for the town.

“We always think no-one will turn up and then it always seems to go very well.

“I would like to thank everybody for supporting us, all the other committee members and the stewards too.”