A record breaking 14,700 people came to watch and support Preston on Saturday night as the annual Christmas lights were switched on.
Fourteen very unique acts came along to support the event featuring Gabriella Cilmi and Dan Gillespie Sells, the lead singer of The Feeling.
The majority of the performances came from local, home grown talent.
A busy evening, which was organised by Mark Whittle from Prestonâs Business Improvement District, said âWe say every year we did it better and better but this year I think we got the line-up spot on. Itâs not always about celebrities itâs about credible artists; the local talent did really wellâ
âWe thought starting it at 5.30 rather than 3.30 has made a big difference, people had time to get home from work, get home from shopping and come and watch the event, we thought this workedâ
The first act to kick start the evening at 5.30pm was the University of Central Lancashireâs Musical Theatre Society (MTS), who sang a number of famous Christmas tunes including âCarol of the Bellsâ.
Andrew Storey, one of the singers of the production, said âItâs always scary being the first act on stage, but weâre very excited to perform to such a big crowdâ
This was followed by Nina Fahey and Connor Banks, who were both âPrestonsâ Got Talentâ winners this year, the pair were overwhelmed by enthusiasm by the crowd.
Prestonsâ Guitar hero, Jamie Brewer walked on stage and had the crowd in suspense as he quietly sat down with his guitar. This changed as soon as he struck his instrument with the crowd lapping up his finger picking and slide set.
Afterwards he admitted âIt was pretty mental, that was the biggest crowd Iâve ever played too, before this Iâd only ever played to 300/400 people.â His unique style of playing was different to what many of the crowd would have heard before.
The event began to pick up pace with the regular face of Mike Dignam appearing on stage, his acoustic rock style of playing was enjoyed fully. He said before going on âIâve played at this event two years ago and Iâm really excited to play again tonightâ
Another regular act, R3ACTION burst onto stage and gave an energetic performance which was deservedly applauded by the crowd, who sang along the entire time.
After performing, the trio said âItâs definitely bigger since last time we played; weâve come a lot further in ourselves so that made it more enjoyableâ
âThe atmosphere was incredibleâ
Thinking the crowd would have run out of energy by now, Class A made sure they regained it as the attention they received was incredible, the popular boy band had just come back off a summer tour which theyâd played to 20-30 000 people, but Preston definitely gave those bigger crowds a run for their money.
The boys said âWe felt alive! Love Preston We love the north!â
(We) “canât complain about the attention! Absolutely brilliant, brilliant crowdâ
Real Radio were on of the sponsors of the evening, which meant Lorna Bancroft and Glen Hunt hosted the evening and were thrilled to be at the switch on.
Glen said âItâs particularly special for me as Preston is my home town, me and Lorna have been doing this for the past 2 years now and every time weâre told weâre going to be doing the switch on its punch the air moments!â
Lorna added âthe crowd always make me feel really welcome theyâre brilliant they always get behind us they get behind the acts and itâs great to see the local talent and meet the people of Preston.â
Even Santa paid a visit on stage with the help of a special helper Alfie Baldwin.
The most anticipated act of the night, Gabriella Cilmi, was met with sheer delight from the crowd as she sang her famous âSweet about meâ and her new single âSymmetryâ which was released this September.
âI feel good! Apart from the cold *laughs* it was great I feel really goodâ
Dan Gillespie Sellls, the lead singer of The Feeling, who sadly couldnât all attend the evening, was the final act of the night, singing crowd favourites âLove It When You Callâ and âSewnâ.
Swiftly after finishing, Dan was joined by Gabriella, Glen and Lorna and many others for the special event.
Sadly however, the event did run over what was estimated, this left lots of families having to leave early and missing the lights switch on.
âKingbillmbeâ commented on the live twitter feed on the night saying âWas reluctant to go as it is usually a shambles and once again it was. We left at 8:05 as they still weren’t on. The kids had had enoughâ
Mark said, âUnfortunately, we did go a bit over schedule, but this can happen when you do live events,â
âApart from the timing, it went really well!â
A list of the full line up;
UClan Musical Theare
Nina Fahey
Connor Banks
DISTRACTED
Jamie Brewer
Mike Dignam
R3ACTION
RECONNECTED
Class A
Vanquish
EverYoung
Gabriella Cilmi
Luminites
Dan Gillespie Sells
Did you go down to the switch on? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below