THOUSANDS of people embraced the Christmas spirit and descended onto Tavistock last Friday for the ever-popular Dickensian Evening — making it one of the most successful events the town has seen.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of Dickensian Evening, showing it has gone from strength to strength.

The length and breadth of the town was packed by people who had come from all over West Devon, Cornwall and further afield to watch the switching on of the lights, start their Christmas shop, and enjoy the festive atmosphere. People were transported back to the 'olde world' with shop owners and staff embracing the traditional dress, chestnuts were roasted and even a steam engine added to the atmosphere. This year the town also enjoyed a flurry of 'snow' thanks to a snow machine provided by John Baldwin's Jewellers on Duke Street.

Dickensian Evening is organised by Tavistock Business Improvement District (BID), supported by town centre businesses. And this year BID teamed up with Tavistock Town Council to provide brand new Christmas lights, with more areas of the town being lit up than ever before.

The lights were switched on by Tavistock mayor Cllr Harry Smith, West Devon mayor Christine Marsh, BID chairman Tony Whitehead, Father Christmas and various school children who stood at the front of the stage and pushed the button to light up the town.

Cllr Smith said: 'As mayor I was delighted with the whole event this year. The evening attracted substantial crowds into Tavistock.

'It was such a pleasure to participate in the switching on of the lights and to see it supported by such a large audience.

'This year, the partnership between the town council and BID resulted in a Dickensian Evening well supported by local businesses and one which provided an opportunity for the thousands who attended to experience our town in a very special atmosphere.'

Shops in the town were open for late night shopping and along West Street, Brook Street and most of its side roads were a range of activities from Morris dancers to children's rides and carol singers to food vendors.

Lisa Piper, BID manager, said how pleased she was that the whole event went smoothly.

She said: 'Everyone said it was brilliant and they all loved the lights, especially up Paddon's Row, on the Guildhall and up Plymouth Road.

'The snow machine provided by Jamie Baldwin was amazing, so thank you to him.

'It was an absolutely great night and went so smoothly. I want to say thank you to everybody that performed and thank you to the Tavistock Town Council works department that provided the stewarding on the night.

'It was busy the entire night — 900 people were recorded for the park and ride and next year we have been asked to put an extra bus on earlier to deal with the amount of people.

'Dickensian Evening is now a firm favourite in the South West calendar.'

l See pages 20, 37 and 41 for pictures of the event.