A FEAST of festive opportunities are being organised in Tavistock in the run-up to Christmas, which will hopefully provide a boost for traders — as well as treat for shoppers.

The busy programme kicks off on Friday, November 30, the date set aside for the switching on of the town's Christmas lights and the incredibly popular Dickensian Evening.

Lisa Wadling, who is organising the events on behalf of Tavistock Business Improvement District (BID), said: 'There will be stilt walkers, a magician, a fire eater, carols, Father Christmas, the Golden Gallopers in the square, hot chestnuts, one wheel Sam on his unicycle, the traditional Christmas market in the pannier market — hopefully lots for people to see and enjoy.

'This year we will have the Bank Square artists market as well, and there will be some children's rides there too. We will have stalls throughout the town, there will be children singing carols at different locations around the town and there will also be a hog roast.'

Dickensian Evening starts with the switching on of the Christmas lights at 6pm, involving the mayors of Tavistock and West Devon and some lucky children selected from schools in the area.

Lisa said: 'Last year Dickensian was absolutely packed, I think it was the busiest ever, there were loads of people throughout the whole town, and I am hoping it will be similar this year.'

A free park and ride service will also be available from Morrison's to the town centre on Dickensian Evening.

But new for this year are the addition of extra late shopping nights, on December 7, 14 and 21.

Lisa said the majority of the town's shops would be open until 8pm on these Friday evenings, and more street entertainment would be laid on.

'The national chainstores are backing this, which is really good, and I think less than a handful of shops have decided not to take part.

'We are doing a "win your Christmas shopping" competition, in which there will be a hamper of goods from shops all around the town, and a window competition which will run across the three weeks.

'There will also be free fairground rides for the children from 6pm each Friday, and Father Christmas will be there, thanks to the Rotary Club.'

Lisa said she was advertising the extra late night shopping further afield to attract people in to the town.

'Plymouth's late night shopping is on a Thursday, and Tavistock is completely different. We have so many individual shops, if you come here to buy a gift, nine times out of ten nobody else will have bought anything similar.

'We have some really quirky little shops to get things from, alongside the big nationals, who will also be open, so it's ideal really.

'We are hoping these shopping evenings will appeal to a lot of people who are looking for something different — if we have cold, dry weather, the smell of roasting chestnut around — it should be great!'