A Big Christmas Switch On took place on 15th November 2015 at One Bell Place, Dartford. The event started at 2PM and the lights were switched on at 5.30PM.

Many stars appeared through the event : Adam Hoffman, Orfila, DAODS, Paddington, Malcolm Lord, Jamie Johnson (from The Voice UK), New Jersey Nights, Mister Maker and Shane Richie. The Mayor, Councillor Ian Armitt, also made an appearance.

The winner of the colouring competition for kids sat on a chair dedicated to her most of the afternoon.

Finally, Father Christmas appeared before the lights were switched on and before many paper snowflakes fell on the entire crowd.

This event was sponsored by many organisations such as Orchards Shopping Centre, All Night Cars, The Mick Jagger Centre, Asda Living or Wilko’s which allowed some people of the crowd to get early christmas gifts.

On the same day, the Vineyard Centre, 2 minutes of walking from One Bell Place, offered free hot chocolates and various cakes for the residents of Dartford from 4.30 PM to 6.30 PM. As expected, most of the people attended it after the Big Switch On.

When asked the reasons of this act, Suzanne Bridge, secondary school art teacher for children with disabilities and part of the centre, explained that they “want to be active in the community.

“So one of the main things [they] do is help the poor and homeless people. [They] have the food bank here which is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. [They] also offer breakfast on Saturday mornings where homeless people can get clean clothes. Over the winter months (January, February and March), the churches open overnight for homeless people to get a place to sleep.”

The church is funded by the people who come to the church.

To illustrate the kind of things they do, she said that “last summer, [they] were at the Dartford festival to offer thousands of bottles of water.

Then, [they] decided this is another event that [they] wanted to people to just know who [they] are and the stuff [they] do for the community, so [they] decided that [they] will do this.”

It was the first time, and they think it’s very successful.

You can get more information about the Vineyard Centre on www.dartfordvineyard.org.uk.

Vaishaly Saravanamuthu,

The Leigh Academy.