For the last few weekends, Robert Williams and his team of volunteers have been working hard to erect festive displays and zig-zags of lights around Helston for the Christmas lights switch-on.

Starting at 6am, and often not finishing until late afternoon, it takes five weekends to put all of the lights up in time for the big day on November 30.

The lights committee has spent the last few months planning and organising a fun-filled festive evening for the switch-on, with entertainment for all age groups.

They have advised people to get into town early on the November 30 as the streets often get packed with thousands of people before the lights are switched on at 7.30pm.

Once Coinagehall Street reaches capacity the committee has to barrier off entry points to the town for crowd control and safety reasons

The main streets of town are closed off to traffic from 3.40pm to allow enough time for stalls to get in position in the correct pitches, the main stage to be built and the fireworks exclusion zone to be set up in front of the monument. Trading starts from 5pm and the main entertainment starts at 6pm.

Local bars, restaurants and takeaways will all welcome custom and there will be a wide variety of sweet and savoury stalls and vans trading throughout the evening to cater for all tastes, eg: hog roast, burgers, jacket potatoes, wraps, donuts, candy floss, mulled wine etc.

In Meneage Street, Father Christmas will be in his grotto by Horse & Jockey Lane from 5pm right through to 9pm.

A photographer will be present to take photos at the grotto for a small fee and there will be princesses and superheroes to entertain whilst queuing to see Santa himself.

Helston Town Concert Band will be playing festive tunes further down Meneage Street from 6.15pm to 7pm and then again after the switch-on.

The popular ‘Penny Red Ponies’ will be in attendance again, and local band Cornish Roots will be performing from 6pm to 7pm by the Guildhall.

Compere for the evening will be local estate agent Bruce Taylor, who will no doubt add his own banter and wit to the event to keep everyone entertained.

The Culdrose Military Wives Choir will perform from 6pm for nearly an hour before the Helston Town Band takes the stage.

Just before 7.30pm. Robert Williams start the big countdown. There will be a Five Minutes of Mayhem fireworks display, kindly sponsored by Borlase & Co Solicitors, as the lights come to life.

After the fireworks, entertainment will continue on the Main Stage until approx 8.30pm, then the stage will have to be dismantled and packed away again before the roads re-open to traffic at 10pm.

It costs well over £5000 to put on the evening – insurance alone is around £3000 – so visitors are asked to make a small donation to the Christmas Lights Fund if possible.

There will be a ‘donation station’ outside Lloyds Bank where Fred Angove and his small team of collectors will gratefully receive any change.

Donations to the Christmas Lights Fund can also be made by sending a cheque made payable to ‘Helston Christmas Lights’ to Robert Williams, 10, Meneage Street, Helston TR13 8AB or call into J C Williams Furnishers. Any amount, large or small, will be gratefully received.

On Friday December 14, the committee is combining the Children’s Lantern Parade with a real reindeer visit and Father Christmas in his grotto.

The parade starts at 7pm at the top of Meneage Street by Whirlwind Sports then will proceed through town towards the Monument, around the Bowling Green, then back up into town again.

Almost 300 children from our local schools will be in the parade with the lanterns which they have made themselves. Also in the parade will be the Central Methodist Choir singing carols and the Epworth Hall panto group in costume to promote their next show – Dick Whittington.

Santa will lead at the front in his sleigh, towed by one of Bobby Eustis’s lovely vintage tractors.

Meneage Street has to be kept clear for this event due to the sheer size of the parade passing through town so the grotto, reindeer, craft stalls and food vans will be pitched in Coinagehall Street.

From 6pm, Jadine Hocking’s H.Y.P.E. Street Dance group will be performing ‘flashmob dance’ in Coinagehall Street then up into Meneage Street and then down into Coinagehall Street again, as additional entertainment before the parade starts.

For more information, visit the Helston Christmas Lights Facebook page.