Pantomime star to switch on Tadley's Christmas lights

Derek Moran, one of the presenters of the Channel 5 television programme, Milkshake, will host the fun-packed countdown, at 7pm, at the town council offices, in Franklin Avenue.
Also starring as Wishee Washee in the seasonal pantomime, Aladdin, at the Anvil Theatre in Basingstoke, it has become a tradition in the town that Basingstoke pantomime stars switch on the lights.
Last year, a trio of actors each received a besom broom, a symbol of the centuries-old craft of broom making in the town.
This years event kicks off at 6pm, with a Christmas market in the Ambrose Allen Centre, santa’s grotto, merry-go-round and refreshments, then at 6.30pm, the Tadley Band, Hurst Singers and Tadley Singers will perform and sing carols.
Loddon Valley Lions will this year send Santa and his helper, (rather than their Christmas float) and who will make a collection in aid of the town council’s project to build a new youth centre on land at Tadley Community Centre.
Also likely to be among the on-stage crowd is the MP for North West Hampshire, Sir George Young, who last year described Tadley’s lights switch-on as, he said: “The first mince pie of the season.”