It's already over a week since we held our second Festival of Light in Reepham... It was a fantastic success once again thanks to the efforts of so many individuals and organisations. I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to some of them.
Firstly a big thank you must go to The Original Cottage Company (TOCC), and especially their Marketing Services Manager, Michele Savage, who was a key member of the Festival of Light team. Not only did TOCC allow us to use their offices for Santa's Grotto, Michele also gave us many hours of her time. We really shouldn't underestimate the support and commitment this business gives to our town.
My next thanks go to our hosts here on this website: Reepham Life donated the presents that Santa gave to the children of Reepham.
Our wonderful display of Christmas trees came about thanks to several people. Reepham Rotary Club provided and put up the central tree and lights as well as erecting the smaller trees around the market place. The small trees were provided by the Reepham Chamber of Commerce. With our new wiring in place this year, the power for the lights has been provided by 10 hosts: Reepham Home Hardware, Reepham Hair Studio, Parsons/Ewings, Angelica, TOCC, Robertsons Butchers, Daniel Good Rare Books, Johnsons, Very Nice Things and the Aitken family. Thank you all for your support! Funding for the trees has come from very generous donations from Chamber members, especially from the King's Arms, Reepham.
Our thanks also go to Sandy and Terry Nevard who organised the Craft Fair in St Michael's and to the Bircham Centre for allowing us to use many of their facilities on the night.
I'm sure those of you who saw the lantern parade will have been as thrilled as I was with how many children came and took part. Thank you, children of Reepham! We must also thank Broadland District Council and the Primary School for providing the lantern workshop at the Primary School, as well as Reepham Nursery School and Messy Church for doing lanterns too.
Thanks too must go to the High School for providing the parking and to the Reepham Rover volunteers for providing the shuttle service.
We were delighted to have the blues band at the end of the evening outside Meloncaulie Rose so a big thank you to Geoff Deal for organising that.
Finally, a very special thank-you must go to Graham of Funforce, our amazing children's entertainer. We couldn't have done it without him...
The Festival of Light team was made up of a core few people who made it all happen. Thanks to all of you who made up the team! It was exhausting but rewarding and we'll start talking about 2016 some time next Spring.
We really needed a few more people available to help, especially in the immediate run-up to the event and on the day itself. If you think that you could help the team next time, please let Reepham Life know.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Brenda