Light Up Axminster have announced their plans for the town's annual Christmas celebrations.

While they had hoped to continue with the festive market, lantern parade and celebratory event that has taken place in previous years, they are unable to do so with the current COVID-19 regulations in place.

Cindy Furse, of Light Up Axminster, said: "The very heart of what we have done in previous years was to bring the community together to celebrate the town, unfortunately this year this is the very thing we are not allowed to do in the same way as we have done before.

"So, with sadness, we have decided to look at the whole Christmas celebrations in a very different way this year. The 2020 celebrations would have been based around Silver Street and Church Street, with new lights going up in these areas and the market and celebratory event held there, of course our fundraising this year has been severely hampered by the coronavirus crisis and this is simply not possible.

"However, those plans are just put on hold for next year when we hope to be able to come back bigger and better in those areas. For this year the Christmas lights will still continue to shine proudly across our town, and we hope to pull together a range of activities and events that give us all a special Christmas this year."

The Lights team share the plight of many community groups and events that have had to cancel or postpone their activities, with organisers being responsible for ensuring those attending events are doing so in groups of six with no mingling.

This is impossible in small communities and with fines of up to £10,000 hanging over event organisers, it has meant that the majority of them have felt they cannot burden that risk.

However, the team also feel that this year is about adapting and are already working with a range of partners to look at an alternative Christmas.

If there is anyone that feels they would like to contribute to this then they are asked to email Cindy on [email protected]

Events and activities already in planning include:

• Christmas Light Switch-On
• Best Dressed Shop Window competition
• Best Dressed Residential Window competition
• Totally Locally Christmas Trail
• Virtual Carol Concert
• Dedicated Social media pages for the community to contribute their own events, activities and photos