HUNDREDS of people are tonight expected to watch as a thousand twinkling lights are switched on in memory of Southampton’s lost loved ones.

The Daily Echo-backed Communicare Tree of Light will tonight be switched on by the mayor of Southampton Cllr Sue Blatchford as part of Woolston Christmas Festival.

The festival will start at 5pm with a children’s lantern parade in Victoria Road, organised by Woolston YMCA.

There will also be stalls and activities thoughout the evening and once the lights are on there will be carols around the tree.

The lights have each been sponsored in memory of someone special and they will light up the tree in Woolston Millennium Gardens throughout December.

So far the initiative has raised more than £1,237 to help Southampton-based Christian charity Communicare continue to provide a free neighbourhood service for some of the city’s most vulnerable people.

The service is run by an army of volunteers who visit people in their homes to provide emotional support and help with household tasks including DIY and shopping, while building lasting friendships.

Although the lights will be switched on tonight there is still time to get in touch and sponsor one for £5.

Sponsors are sent a bauble to put on their Christmas trees at home and they will see their loved ones’ names and photographs and messages about them printed in two memory books that will be on display at the charity’s premises and in churches across the city in 2015.