Christmas lights in St Ives will be turned on in OCTOBER this year

The town wants to lift people's spirits after what has been a challenging year

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St Ives in December is usually filled with festivities

A Cornish town has been granted permission to turn on its Christmas lights this month to lift people's spirits.

In the welcome move, the town BID gave the go ahead in St Ives after people were saddened to hear Santa would not be arriving by lifeboat this year.

Two of Cornwall's major light displays have already been cancelled for this year.

Angarrack, near Hayle, has developed a big reputation for its festive lights display which illuminates the village each year.

Sadly, the same goes for Mousehole’s famous Christmas lights display, with a decision made not to put on the display in 2020.

In a post on the St Ives December website, organisers confirmed that the town would be lit up on October 28 to bring a little festive cheer.

The announcement said: "As he is very old, Father Christmas has to keep at a distance this year and will not be able to arrive by lifeboat, but to cheer everyone up he has given permission for St Ives BID to put the Christmas lights on early from 28th October.

"He will be carrying out his important Santa duties in secret hours to avoid contact.

"Elves will be running a Christmas Window dressing competition based on the 12 days of Christmas and shops are going to be open late night every Thursday from 19th November until the big day.

"NHS workers, carers, shop workers and many other people locally have gone above and beyond, helping the community throughout this difficult year.

"We would like to highlight some these people on our Facebook and web site.

"Please tell us your stories of those that have helped and brought smiles back on people’s faces in these difficult and usual times so we can celebrate them on our web page."