{"id":7410,"date":"2015-11-10T17:30:30","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T17:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=7410"},"modified":"2015-11-10T17:30:30","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T17:30:30","slug":"whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitchurch Christmas Lights set for November 22 switch-on"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ChristmasLightsPosterA4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7419\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ChristmasLightsPosterA4-724x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas Lights Poster\" width=\"305\" height=\"431\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7419\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ChristmasLightsPosterA4-724x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas Lights Poster\" width=\"305\" height=\"431\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which was left \u201cin serious jeopardy\u201d after the traders\u2019 committee disbanded earlier this year.<br \/>\nTomas Champ, owner of The Play Loft, stepped up this autumn when the event &#8211; which has run for the last 14 years -was left in doubt. The switch-on is scheduled for November 22.<br \/>\nMr Champ says his plans focus on a more traditional Christmas and less fairground. A\u00a0lantern parade will begin\u00a0at the legion car park at 4.30pm\u00a0then\u00a0enter the village and start the carols.<br \/>\nThis will be followed by a variety of acts including local singer Luke Andrews and various rides, Christmas stalls, Santa\u2019s grotto and fireworks.<br \/>\nThe name of the person who has been chosen to switch on the lights is due to be confirmed soon.<br \/>\nPrior to the traders&#8217; committee&#8217;s disbandment, local barber George Lazarou ran the annual event, which was attended by 2,000 people last year.<br \/>\nMr Champ acknowledged his gratefulness for local traders\u2019 recent generosity and\u00a0said: \u201cIt is a massive opportunity to showcase our business and the village to all around and a legacy we should all appreciate and support.<br \/>\n\u201cI love Christmas and know it would be a disaster for all the community if Whitchurch did not hold its annual event.\u201d<br \/>\nHe added: \u201cThe event was absorbed into a traders committee, which has run it for the last two years. Unfortunately the committee disbanded and this left the event in serious jeopardy.\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Xmaslights11.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-7418\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Xmaslights11.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas Lights\" width=\"373\" height=\"248\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-7418\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Xmaslights11.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas Lights\" width=\"373\" height=\"248\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>Mr Champ said he was thankful for the help of various people including Jason Lewis from Autocraft, Roger Walters and Paddy from the Gift Shop. He added: \u201cAll the other traders whom I have approached asking for contributions have all welcomed the event and want to see it succeed \u2013 Ikona, Martin Player, Damien Harris and the man himself George Lazarou.\u201d<br \/>\nMatthew Lock, founder of the community website My Whitchurch, also expressed his relief at the go-ahead: \u201cIt\u2019s great to have the Christmas lights this year. I don\u2019t think many people know how close we came to not having anything.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy task to get done and last year there were concerns it was getting a little too commercial, so hopefully it will have more community Christmas spirit.\u201d<br \/>\nMr Champ appealed to the community for help in ensuring the event runs smoothly: \u201cI am encouraging anyone who would like to help steward on the night to please get in touch as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which was left \u201cin serious jeopardy\u201d after the traders\u2019 committee disbanded earlier this year. Tomas Champ, owner of The Play Loft, stepped up this autumn when the event &#8211; which has run for the last 14 years -was left in doubt. The switch-on is scheduled for November 22. Mr Champ says his plans focus on a more traditional Christmas and less fairground. A\u00a0lantern parade will begin\u00a0at the legion car park [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":7411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[1291,1516,227,1518,1699,339,240],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whitchurch","tag-cardiff-2","tag-christmas","tag-community","tag-lights","tag-society","tag-wales","tag-whitchurch"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Whitchurch lights set for November 22 switch-on<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which is due to launch on November 22.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whitchurch lights set for November 22 switch-on\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which is due to launch on November 22.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-10T17:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cathyduncan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cathyduncan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cathyduncan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/\",\"name\":\"Whitchurch lights set for November 22 switch-on\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-10T17:30:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1\"},\"description\":\"A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which is due to launch on November 22.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Whitchurch Christmas Lights set for November 22 switch-on\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\",\"name\":\"The Cardiffian\",\"description\":\"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1\",\"name\":\"cathyduncan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d4d0895f6e1f7ccb86d04236a870a18b\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cathyduncan\"},\"description\":\"Lecturer, Cardiff University News Journalism MA. Bristolian based in Cardiff but Swansea Til I Die.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/people\/view\/381934-duncan-cathy\",\"https:\/\/uk.linkedin.com\/in\/cathy-duncan-6b91459\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cathyduncan\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/author\/cathyduncan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Whitchurch lights set for November 22 switch-on","description":"A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which is due to launch on November 22.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Whitchurch lights set for November 22 switch-on","og_description":"A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which is due to launch on November 22.","og_url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/","og_site_name":"The Cardiffian","article_published_time":"2015-11-10T17:30:30+00:00","author":"cathyduncan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cathyduncan","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cathyduncan","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/","name":"Whitchurch lights set for November 22 switch-on","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2015-11-10T17:30:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1"},"description":"A LOCAL businessman has rescued the Whitchurch Christmas Lights event which is due to launch on November 22.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/10\/whitchurch-christmas-lights-set-november-22-switch\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Whitchurch Christmas Lights set for November 22 switch-on"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/","name":"The Cardiffian","description":"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1","name":"cathyduncan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d4d0895f6e1f7ccb86d04236a870a18b","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cathyduncan"},"description":"Lecturer, Cardiff University News Journalism MA. Bristolian based in Cardiff but Swansea Til I Die.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/people\/view\/381934-duncan-cathy","https:\/\/uk.linkedin.com\/in\/cathy-duncan-6b91459","https:\/\/x.com\/cathyduncan"],"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/author\/cathyduncan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7410"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}