Update on the 2008 Friends of the Lights Campaign

Dear Friends

I just wanted to give you an update on "all things Christmas Lights"... yes it IS time to start thinking about Christmas already. In fact, the Festive Decor team has been thinking about Christmas since April! We have been working hard to ensure that you have a fantastic festive display in Town this year (hence not having a moment to put a glitzy newsletter together for you yet, and just updating you by way of this email).

As you know, last year we had a successful fundraising campaign which saw us raise £60,000 for the lights, half of that amount was contributed by Generali Worldwide. We have also received a cheque from Generali Worldwide for this years campaign for £10,000. We were obviously thrilled that they wanted to support us again this year and extremely grateful.

This years lighting display is going to be fantastic. We will have new lights in the Market and Mill Street as well as a few surprises in other areas of Town.... For your diary, Switch On Day will be Saturday 29th November this year. We are yet to decide on what time the lights will be switched on - as you know last year we tried a slightly later time in response to feedback received. However as it rained so heavily last year it was very difficult to gauge the impact of that change, so any constructive feedback you have in relation to this would be gratefully received.

It would be really fantastic if I could sign off my email now wouldn't it? But I can't. What people often fail to realise is that funding the Christmas Lights is an ongoing commitment. Whilst last year was absolutely incredible and we were thrilled with the success of the campaign, in a sense it makes this year more difficult. I suspect the public mindset will now be something along the lines of "Festive Decor raised £60,000 last year so they cannot need to ask for more money for a number of years".

However - roughly half of the money we raised has been spent on new lights and the labour needed to put them up. The other half covers ongoing costs. So therefore as Christmas 2008 approaches we have the unenviable task of starting the fundraising campaign all over again. This year we will not be looking to raise quite as much as last year, however the more we raise, the more we can do in Town in years to come. There are areas of Town that are still unlit and we would like to be in a position to plan further extension to the existing display.

So that is where we are to date. This week we hope to get our first letters out to the businesses in Town asking them to donate to the cause or become a Friend of the Lights.  We will also be issuing a Press Release to the general media in the hope that it will get the message across about the need for ongoing funding. After that - who knows. 

Thanks for your time and of course, (maybe a little early) Festive Greetings!

Kind regards

Martine Ellis

Chairman

Festive Decor Limited

www.guernseychristmaslights.com