Work starts to take down South Tyneside's Christmas lights now festive season is over

Each autumn, South Tyneside Council and its street lighting partner, Balfour Beatty, start putting up the borough’s Christmas displays to ensure they are in place in time for the Christmas lights switch on events across South Shields, Jarrow and Hebburn.

Lights are removed in January and stored away until next Christmas. Those still in place on the ‘Twelfth Night’ (6 January) are switched off.

In addition to the Christmas Wonderland events and activities, the Council invested in a range of extra new light installations to add to existing displays.

New features included motifs along Fowler Street and Keppel Street and leading up to Market Square. Additional lighting was also installed along King Street with an overhead canopy as well as lit trees at the northern end of the high street.

New displays featured in Hebburn at the Victoria Road East/Campbell Park Road roundabout and in Jarrow on the A185 roundabout, along Church Bank and on trees in Linear Park.

New lights were added to the trees at Harton Village and the roundabout at Cauldwell Avenue/Sunderland Road and new motifs were added to East Boldon’s Front Street. A new Christmas tree was also installed at Marsden Grotto car park.

Councillor Joan Atkinson, Deputy Leader of South Tyneside Council with responsibility for Culture and Leisure, said: “Each year, South Tyneside’s displays help to spread festive cheer across the Borough. After a tough period for all our communities, we were determined to help raise spirits further with additional festive lighting in our towns and villages as well as the return of our traditional Christmas Wonderland events.

“It takes around four weeks to put up the displays and test them. Understandably, it can take just as long to take them down. The process involves carefully removing the lights across our towns and villages, checking them over and storing them away ready for next year.

“Due to the quantity of decorations across the Borough, it is simply not possible to take down all of the displays before the traditional ‘Twelfth Night’, although those still in place are switched off at this time.”

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