Santa Comes to Irby

Santa Comes to Irby” and the Irby Christmas lights switch on - Friday 3rd December

This hugely successful community event was originally conceived by Mike and Brenda Ireland of Irby Village Hall with the intention of providing a free, and happy, occasion for the children of Irby.

Twelve or so years ago, ITPAS became involved as a willing partner when the then ITPAS charity and funding officer, Carol Porter, secured community funding to replace all of the broken and burnt out festive illuminations.

Since then, the event has grown and the illuminations have improved. There is now a loose collaborative group of representatives from The Shippons, Irby Village Hall, The Irby Club, Irby Evangelical Church and ITPAS, each taking on a role in either the provision of the Christmas lights, or the switch on event, or both.

ITPAS members, Ian Chalmers and Lukman Sinclair are currently the ITPAS representatives who liaise with the other key organisations. Ian has assumed the role of ensuring there are sufficient funds to pay for the Christmas lights – both capital expenditure for the repair and replacement of the existing lighting clusters and for the year-on year recurring costs of having the lights put up and taken down – a task which must be done by a Wirral Borough Council approved electrician. Lukman fulfils the role of lights fund treasurer.

For repair and replacement, as a registered charity, ITPAS is the only organisation within the collaborative group who can apply for community funding to cover these costs. A few months ago, ITPAS was delighted to receive a grant from Wirral Borough Council towards the repair of three of our animated lights.

Additionally, the year-on-year costs of having the lights installed professionally and taken down again afterwards is usually £1500 per year and the task of covering theses costs continues to be a challenge.