'It's time to revamp St Peter Port for Christmas'

A new team is being sought to take over the running of the festive lights

A new team is being sought to take over the running of the St Peter Port Christmas Lights.

Jax Robin, chair of the Guernsey charity, and treasurer Keith Robin have been running the event for eight years now but are set to retire in September.

They are now appealing for new blood to pick up the baton - Mrs Robin said: "It's time to revamp St Peter Port for Christmas."

They said among the tasks to be completed by the new team is organising the switch on and parade and raising £30,000 towards the estimated £60,000-£65,000 cost of the event.

"To start off with, you can do things as they are and then sort of put your own ideas in afterwards," said Mrs Robin.

She said anyone volunteering for the role would need to have a passion for the parish and the island.

The team is responsible for organising the annual switching on of the lights and parade

Mrs Robin said plans for this year's event were already coming together, including a contract with a local event hire business that had been involved with the lights for a number of years.

Explaining the benefits of the event for the island, she said: "It supports the happiness and wellbeing of all the people of Guernsey."

Mrs Robin said the event and the lights also support the town, including the retail and hospitality industry.

Keith Robin said they would be on hand to support a new team taking on this year's event

Mr Robin said he was not sure there was ever a right time to step away but the new team would need enthusiasm and an artistic eye ready to devise new designs.

He said the reward for all the hard work was "seeing people's faces when you walk through the town and the number of people that have said they appreciate what the effect is - that's priceless".

Mr Robin said someone with "enthusiasm" was needed to come up with ideas to raise money and they also needed someone with an artistic eye to devise the displays and see if they could come up with anything different.

Both he and Mrs Robin have offered to be on hand to support the new team for this year's event.

The group is set to launch its annual envelope appeal this month.

Mr Robin said a grant had already been received this year from the Office for Economic Development, with some money also available from last year's Christmas fundraising.

Anyone keen on getting involved is asked to get in touch via the details on the group's website.