FOR the first time, Gloucester Cathedral was at the centre of the city’s great Christmas switch-on. With the theme “The twelve days of Christmas”, hundreds of people processed through the city for the Christmas lights to be switched on.

They were headed by Father Christmas, the Mayor and Town Crier, and actors from the local pantomime, followed by schoolchildren, and huge papier-mâché lantern-figures of swans, dancing ladies, and drummers drumming, with all the rest of the cast of the traditional song.

“The crowds were the biggest in quite some years, and it was wonderful to see the children taking part,” the leader of Gloucester City Council, Paul James, said.

More than 1000 people then poured into the Cathedral, where Father Christmas and the Mayor sat side by side in the front row (below), and all were made welcome as they sang carols and listened to the Christmas message.

The idea had come about when Canon Nicola Arthy, the member of the Chapter specifically charged with developing the ministry to the city, approached the leader of the city council to talk about how the Cathedral might play a bigger part in the city’s Christmas celebrations, and the switch-on of the lights.

“Obviously, the Church has something fundamental to say about Christmas,” Canon Arthy said. “We didn’t need a pop group to switch on our Christmas lights: we did it ourselves. The Cathedral has towered above Gloucester for over 900 years. On that night, the city claimed it as its own.”