SWITCHING on the Christmas lights in Farnham is an event that will be returning for 2018. But, this year there may be a twist on who is turning on the lights.

A town council meeting discussed the possibility of a competition within local schools for a student to win the chance of switching on the lights.

Another idea was for a local celebrity to do the honours, before this new idea was proposed.

Usually the lights are turned on by the cast of a local pantomime and last year was no different, with the cast of Aladdin at the Princes Hall, Aldershot and Jack and the Beanstalk at The Harlington, Fleet switching them on.

Another Christmas event hoping to go a little differently to last year, is the Farnham Christmas market.

Farnham Town Council agreed that a 30 per cent discount would be offered to stallholders who attended the 2017 Christmas Market, which was cancelled at the 11th hour due to freak 60mph winds.

The discount would be offered to stallholders who booked between February and March 2018, during the ‘early priority booking’ phase.

Councillor Jill Hargreaves said: “Our Christmas market was an absolute disaster thanks sadly to the almighty.

“We were unable to do anything about the gusts, which were up to about 60mph and had to cancel it about half an hour into the event.

“We have decided to give the producers a 30 per cent discount which I think is really quite generous.”