WINCHESTER got into the Christmas spirit last night with the official turning on of its lights.

The mayor and mayoress Allan and Nan Mitchell did the honours with the help of four children who had won a competition to help them.

They joined the mayor in a horse-drawn carriage trip from Abbey House up the High Street to the 40-foot tall Christmas tree in the pedestrian precinct.

A few minutes late at 6.03pm and before a crowd of some 200 people the lights were switched. Then the carriage travelled down the hill to the Brooks shopping centre to switch on their lights.

The four children, Jack Sole, six, from Lark Hill Rise, Badger Farm; George Marsh, six, from Beech Grove, Owslebury; and Alice and Catherine Dirks, both six, from Church Road, Swanmore, had to write to the mayor and tell him why they should turn on the lights.

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