Your Local Independent 202

December 2025 Page 3 AD SALES 01204 478812 THE countdown to Christmas started with thousands of people attending Ignite Fire Festival and the Christmas Lights Switch-On at Rochdale Town Hall. More than 10,000 people enjoyed the event over three evenings, leading up to the big switch on. The Fire Festival transformed the square and gardens around the town hall into a trail of fire, lights and entertainment. A fire garden full of blazing sculptures and animatronic installa- tions featured ‘Bubbles of Love’, a new kinetic sculpture by Felix Rowberry and Paka’s Fire Dragon, among many other eye-catch- ing displays. The party began in dramatic style with a 100 strong torchlit pro- cession to launch newly restored pathways and parkland on Broadfield Slopes by the town hall. Alongside flickering torches and drummers it featured the unveiling of a fire drawn image of a Pack Horse that gave its name to Packer Spout, the historic spring located on the slopes. Rochdale’s new ice rink also opened for the first time and a Christ- mas market was held during the weekend. And there were live CHRISTMAS PICTURE SPECIAL LIGHTING UP THE FESTIVITIES performances, featuring some of the UK’s top talent, including special effects company BPM SFX’s fire shows in front of the town hall. Travelling Light Circus and Rochdale’s Skylight Circus returned with ‘Fireflies,’ a multi-sensory show featuring jugglers, fire torch spinning and more as part of the Cul- ture Co-op programme with residents trained especially for the festival. Back again were ‘Drum Machine’ – the popular drumming col- lective with their techno infused beats. On Sunday evening, Middleton Arena’s ‘Aladdin’ Christmas pantomime star Silly Billy (Chris Johnson) introduced proceed- ings on the balcony alongside the Princess (Ruby Millard). They led festive sing- alongs before the mayor of Rochdale Janet Ems- ley, greeted the audi- ence and introduced Father Christmas. The mayor said: “This is such a magical time of year and it has been wonderful to see so much happening over the past three evenings and to see so many people com- ing out on Sunday despite the poor weather, was fantastic.” Many visitors took to social media to praise the event with comments including, “impressive display and switch-on”, “we abso- lutely loved it”, “amaz- ing”, “great for families”, “very impressed, I’m so proud of my hometown”, “I thought it was magi- cal”, “brilliant, and well organised” and “the kids absolutely loved it.”