Deal & Walmer Christmas Lights

Deal Christmas Lights; A History

The Deal and Walmer Chamber of Trade has been festooning the Deal High Street with Christmas lights for over 40 years. It is thought that the lights started in the late 70’s with 38 shops funding small real Christmas trees, dressed with electrical lights, the installation was contracted to a local electrician and builder, Vic Edginton. Strings of lights and banners were added from the Town Hall to Lloyds Bank. These were made up of incandescent lamps, which used a lot of power and had lots and lots of breakages and problems. The first switch on ceremony was delivered from the back of a lorry!! Individual shops powering the lights would wait in their doorways for the count down and looking at neighbouring lights to rush in and switch on their portion of the lighting.  This system naturally led to a not so smooth operation, with some lights not being turned on.  Pre health and safety regulations, the whole system was a touch primitive, the strings of lights were installed using a long pole with a notch cut in the top. All the lights use to be stored in a double garage behind Woods the Newsagents. A local electronic engineer, Peter Knight, designed a system whereby all the strings, trees, banners and Town Hall lights could be switched on and off individually at a central control point. This work has allowed for a better WoW factor during the switch-on event, as all the lights now come on at once and does not rely on a multiple of individual shopkeepers waiting to hear the countdown.  The lit section of the High Street has continually been extended and now runs from Union Road car park to South Street and includes Park Street. Over 120 traders now have trees, all the lights could be run from a single 13a domestic socket, thanks to the change in lighting technology, all the lights are now LED minimising the environmental impact of the lights.

This work would not be possible without the volunteers that give up their valuable time to this endeavour. Castles Removal and Storage, kindly store the lights through the year, a volunteer team check the lights and carry out testing and repairs all year round, ensuring they are ready for the big day. The installation of the central switching system, extended coverage of the Christmas lights and the increase in the number of trees, means that there are more plugs and wiring exposed to the vagaries of Deal’s weather. In the past rain and lighting have taken their toll on the equipment, the occasional scaffold pole has severed whole sections of the system or the council pruning of trees! Apparently, there was an incident in the early days with one of the light banners falling through the Midland Bank window!! You can see the lights team in the high street all year round completing essential maintenance, double checking the connections and anchor points. The Christmas trees are paid for by the individual businesses that have them proudly displayed above their shop fronts. The trees are purchased through a local supplier, a team of volunteers gather at Castles Removals on a Saturday in November to dress the tress with the reused and checked LED light strings, the following Sunday volunteers, gather at the High Street installing the trees, at the points the lights team have tested and installed earlier in the year. Without the support of the fabulous local businesses, the Chamber, the volunteers would not be able to attempt this work.

We NEED Your Help

The lights team are always looking for more people to join in, as there are aspirations to add more lights to the collection, which takes more hours to complete the maintenance and installations. If you are competent on a ladder, and electrician or an electronic engineer who can give up a few hours to help bringing cheer to all that come to Deal’s extraordinarily vibrant High Street.

If you can help please contact the Chambers secretary at enquiries@dwchamber.co.uk

Deal & Walmer Chamber of Trade Ltd.
Reg No.00463493
Registered Office Deal Business Park Southwall Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9PZ 2023.
All Rights Reserved