Christmas Activities 2021
We were relieved and delighted to be able to hold our annual switch on of the Christmas Lights in our five villages to welcome the festive season to Seaton Valley this year.
The events started in Seghill on 19 November and were followed by Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval over the following weekend.
However, due to Storm Arwen, a decision was taken to postpone the events in Holywell and New Hartley as the forecast of high winds and rain would have made it too dangerous to hold the events. It proved to be the correct decision.
Following the storm, we were able to hold the postponed events on the 30 November in New Hartley and on the 1 December in Holywell.
There was an excellent turn-out by residents to support the switch on events in all of the villages.
Our compares entertained the crowds and got them to join in with Christmas songs and activities. We had prize draws for the children and free mince pies and mulled wine. We were also joined by Santa Claus and his chief reindeer, Rudolph, who danced and met the children in the snow.
We also had the choirs from Seghill First School and Holywell First School sing Christmas carols at the events in their villages.
Cllr. Susan Dungworth, Parish Councillor for Hartley Ward and Chair of the Council said:
One of the consequences of Storm Arwen was that some of the Christmas lights were damaged during the storm and had to be removed from lamp posts. This especially affected the Christmas lights in Seaton Sluice which took the full force of the storm from the sea. We will ensure that the damaged lights are back up in the villages next year.
We would also like to thank the following for their support of our Christmas Events: The Blake in Seghill, St. Paul’s Church and Castaways Fish and Chip Restaurant in Seaton Sluice, Lakes and Dales Cooperative Store in Seaton Delaval, New Hartley Community Association and the Milbourne Arms in Holywell.
Pictures from the Christmas events:
Christmas Lights Competition
Each year we hold our annual Christmas Lights competition held in conjunction with the village First Schools.
Children take part in a competition to design a decorative Christmas Light. The winner from each school gets their winning design made into a light and they get to switch their own light on at their village event.
They are joined by the runners up to switch on the lights of the village Christmas tree. The winners and runners-up from this year are
Christmas Shop Window Competition
We hold an annual Christmas Shop Window Competition and invite the businesses in Seaton Valley to decorate their windows and enter the competition.
There was a great variation in the decorated themes in the shop windows and it made the judging very difficult. The standard was so high this year that the judges struggled to pick an outright winner.
In the end they decided that the top prize would be shared between Fred and Gingers Salon in Seaton Delaval and Jack and the Bean Stark Café in New Hartley.
Pictured below are the winners, Fred and Gingers Salon (left) and Jack and the Bean Stark Café (right) getting their certificates:
