BIDEFORD CHRISTMAS LIGHT SWITCH ON 2025
Pressing the Button! ELF Charity
The amazing ELF Charity were nominated as Event Partners in 2025.
A huge thank you to ELF Exeter Leukaemia Fund for joining us at Bideford Christmas Light Switch On 2025 and for officially switching on the town’s Christmas lights.
ELF is a local charity that provides vital support to patients from across North Devon who are undergoing treatment for blood cancers and related conditions at the Haematology Centre in Exeter. They offer practical assistance such as free accommodation close to the hospital for patients and their families, helping to ease the emotional and financial pressures that often come with ongoing treatment away from home.
By supporting ELF, you are helping local people in our community receive the care they need, with the comfort of having loved ones nearby during what can be an incredibly difficult time.
To find out more about the amazing work ELF does, or to see how you can support the charity, please visit their website or follow them on social media.
Once again, thank you to ELF for being part of such a special evening and helping us bring some festive cheer to Bideford.
A Real Community Event
Despite the drizzly weather the community still turned out in full force to support the event and see the lights go on!
We would like to thank everyone who attended the event and everyone involved in the production of the event - including our many volunteer stewards. Huge thanks to Bideford Town Council and Bideford Bridge Trust for their grants which make the event possible, also to Evans Transport for providing the stage and ride for Santa, Tarka Scaffolding for providing the platform and stage access, TDC for the licence to use their land and use of gazebos, Bideford Town Council for use of the Pannier Market when the weather proved too windy for the gazebos to go up. Thanks to all of the traders, attractions, performers, entertainers, AngelFire Pyrotechnics, Jacks Services, Waggle Events and our medical, fire and security teams. Thank you to Rob Watson and Jude Gubb for being amazing hosts.
DS Electrical have done an amazing job of installing the lights again this year on behalf of Bideford Town Council - they are stunning! Thanks as always to our amazing event photographer Graham Hobbs for capturing the day!
Evans Transport
Evans Transport - Aggregate | General Haulage Bideford North Devon
AngelFire Pyrotechnics
Corporate Pyrotechnics and Special Effects, Festival Pyrotechnics
Tarka Scaffolding
Jack's Services
Waggle Events
Waggle Events offer sound, audio visuals, screens and staging for events
DS Electrical
DS Electrical Specialising in Residential and Commercial Sectors
CMLI Security
JCAC Barnes Medifire Event & Fire Rescue
Bideford Town Council
Torridge District Council
Home | Torridge District Council
Bideford Bridge Trust
Entertainment A'Plenty
Entertainment A'Plenty
Bideford Christmas Light Switch On was packed with entertainment aplenty - live music from Back In The Room, Rhia, Dogleg, Jacob Terry, Pinstripe, Westcroft Choir, St Mary's Choir, Sarah Ann Westcott Dance School, Louisa Hockins School of Performing Arts, Stagecoach Performing Arts, Bideford Town Band, Bideford Youth Pipe Band and more!
Back In The Room
Stagecoach
Children's Drama, Singing, Dance Classes Barnstaple | Stagecoach
Sarah Ann Westcott School of Dance
Dance Classes in Devon | Sarah Anne Westcott Dance Studios
Bideford Pipe and Drums
Bideford Town Band
Louisa Hockin School of Performing Arts
Louisa Hockin School of Performing Arts / Bideford / Dance Classes
Higher Beings
Westcroft School
St Mary's School
Home | St Mary's Church of England Primary School
Capturing the Day
Entertainment A'Plenty
The man behind the camera - Graham Hobbs.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Graham for capturing the day for us. We love Graham's work and hope you enjoy looking through the photos.
Many of the images on our website are Graham's work - he is an absolute pleasure to have onboard and we are blessed to call him one of our team. (He is also incredibly hard to get a photo of! So we are reusing the 2024 photo for his Thank You!)
Grants and Sponsorship
This event would not be possible without the grant funding provided by Bideford Town Council. Bideford Bridge Trust also awarded a Grant towards the event costs. A Huge Thank You to all of these businesses and organisations. Without your support this event would not happen. Thanks also to event supporters Evans Transport and Tarka Scaffolding who donate the stage and to Jewson's Bideford for donating fencing. Thank you for your continued support!!!
Get Involved for 2026
PLEASE NOTE
From 2026 this event is now being organised in-house by Bideford Town Council. Please follow the link below to the Bideford Town Council Website for their contact information and to find out more about their plans.
Your Council - Bideford Town Council
We would like to extend a huge thank you to our 2025 volunteers, as well as to everyone who has supported the event over the past ten years whilst we have had the pleasure of organising the event.
The Switch On event is a very long day — with the first people arriving on site at 06:00 and the clear up continuing until around 22:00. Despite the wind and rain, our volunteers showed up ready to help ensure the event could go ahead, working tirelessly throughout the day.
On the day of the event alone, volunteers collectively contribute over 200 hours of their time. In addition to this, there are approximately 120 hours of planning beforehand, including licence applications, road closure arrangements, bookings, preparing event management plans, risk assessments, advertising, and much more.
We are incredibly grateful to all of our volunteers — both past and present — for the time, effort, and commitment given over the last decade to make the event possible.
BIDEFORD CHRISTMAS LIGHT SWITCH ON
Event History
This event is held on the first Sunday in December each year on Bideford Quayside. The event sees the Quayside filled with rides, attractions, stalls and entertainment. The 2025 event will be held on Sunday 7th December from 12-7pm.
BIDEFORD CHRISTMAS LIGHT SWITCH ON 2024
Pressing the Button! Jack Hopkins
Didn’t Jack do an awesome job of switching the lights on!!! Here’s a bit of info about Jack and why he was chosen to press the button!!! Jack is an amazing ambassador for the Tony Hudgell Foundation. Jack is aged 10 and has been raising money for the foundation since 2021 and has raised over £20000. His fundraising journey started at just the age of 5 when he walked 5km twice a week to raise money for the NHS during the first lockdown! For this he was recognised as a lockdown legend with RAAM Exeter and later showcased in the historical museum in Belgium. He was later awarded a British Citizen Youth Award and has nominals after his name BCyA. It was here he met Tony Hudgell. https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/northam-legend-7-awarded-british-6257221.amp He came away from the ceremony and asked why Tony had no legs - I explained it was because his birth parents weren’t very nice to him. Jack decided he wanted to support the Tony Hudgell Foundation - enhancing the lives of children who have been physically, emotionally or psychologically abused. He decided to run 1km every night in the middle of winter for 100 days and raised over £5000. https://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/local-news/1216718/young-jack-strides-out-again-for-charity.html The foundation made him an ambassador in Feb 2022. He has also completed a mini 10 tors on Dartmoor, opened up Lynton and Lynmouth railway, climbed a mountain with Tony Hudgell and most recently climbed Mount Snowdon. Some awards under his belt are a British Citizen Youth Award, a Prime Ministers Point of Light award, Northam Mayor’s community champion and also was gifted a holiday on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. We are currently putting together a Christmas present appeal and hope to deliver over 200 presents to local children who wouldn’t get a gift this year. Some articles for reference https://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/home/1364864/amazing-northam-fundraiser-jack-pays-a-christmas-visit-to-downing-street.html https://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/home/1576343/jack-conquers-his-fears-fog-and-mt-snowdon.html https://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/uplifting/1527922/young-northam-fundraiser-jack-will-take-on-mt-snowdon-for-his-next-charity-challenge.html https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/bidefords-mini-forrest-gump-completes-6729615.amp Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jackhopkinsbcya
A Real Community Event
Despite the drizzly weather the community still turned out in full force to support the event and see the lights go on!
We would like to thank everyone who attended the event and everyone involved in the production of the event - including our many volunteer stewards. Huge thanks to Bideford Town Council and Bideford Bridge Trust for their grants which make the event possible, also to Evans Transport for providing the stage and ride for Santa, Tarka Scaffolding for providing the platform and stage access, TDC for the licence to use their land and use of gazebos, Slee Blackwell Solicitors for sponsoring the event. Thanks to all of the traders, attractions, performers, entertainers, AngelFire Pyrotechnics, Jacks Services, Waggle Events and our medical, fire and security teams. Thank you to Rob Watson and Jude Gubb for being amazing hosts.
DS Electrical have done an amazing job of installing the lights again this year on behalf of Bideford Town Council - they are stunning! Thanks as always to our amazing event photographer Graham Hobbs for capturing the day!
Evans Transport
Evans Transport - Aggregate | General Haulage Bideford North Devon
Slee Blackwell Solicitors
Slee Blackwell Solicitors LLP: Award Winning Lawyers
AngelFire Pyrotechnics
Corporate Pyrotechnics and Special Effects, Festival Pyrotechnics
Tarka Scaffolding
Jack's Services
Waggle Events
Waggle Events offer sound, audio visuals, screens and staging for events
DS Electrical
DS Electrical Specialising in Residential and Commercial Sectors
CMLI Security
JCAC Barnes Medifire Event & Fire Rescue
Bideford Town Council
Torridge District Council
Home | Torridge District Council
Bideford Bridge Trust
Entertainment A'Plenty
Entertainment A'Plenty
Bideford Christmas Light Switch On was packed with entertainment with live music from Oliver Wattley, Stagecoach Performing Arts, Joe Hutchings, Westcroft School Choir, Bideford Town Band, St Mary’s School Choir and dance performances from Louisa Hockins School of Performing Arts and Sarah Ann Westcott Dance School. Bideford Pipe and Drums headed the parade and the fantastic team at Evans Transport provided a ride for Santa (as well as providing the stage!), Bideford’s Carnival Royalty also joined the parade. The event finished with an awesome show of live music from Beckon the Wyrd and Fire from Higher Beings.
Catch part of the awesome Beckon The Wyrd's performance here:
Oliver Wattley
Stagecoach
Children's Drama, Singing, Dance Classes Barnstaple | Stagecoach
Sarah Ann Westcott School of Dance
Dance Classes in Devon | Sarah Anne Westcott Dance Studios
Bideford Pipe and Drums
Bideford Town Band
Louisa Hockin School of Performing Arts
Louisa Hockin School of Performing Arts / Bideford / Dance Classes
Magical Guests
"Bring the Magic to Your Child's Party with Character Visits from Magical Guests!" - Magical Guests
Bideford Carnival
Higher Beings
Westcroft School
St Mary's School
Home | St Mary's Church of England Primary School
Capturing the Day
Entertainment A'Plenty
The man behind the camera - Graham Hobbs.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Graham for capturing the day for us. We love Graham's work and hope you enjoy looking through the photos.
Many of the images on our website are Graham's work - he is an absolute pleasure to have onboard and we are blessed to call him one of our team.
Grants and Sponsorship
This event would not be possible without the grant funding provided by Bideford Town Council. Bideford Bridge Trust also awarded a Grant towards the event costs. Slee Blackwell Solicitors also made a sponsorship donation to the event. A Huge Thank You to all of these businesses and organisations. Without your support this event would not happen. Thanks also to event supporters Evans Transport and Tarka Scaffolding who donate the stage and Santa's Transport for the event. Thank you for your continued support!!!
Get Involved for 2025
We would like to extend a massive thank you to this years volunteers. The Switch On event is a very long day - the first people on site arrive at 06.00 and the clear up takes until around 22.00. Our volunteers all turned up and braved the rain to make sure the event could go ahead and they all worked really hard throughout the day.
Collectively over 200 hours are worked by volunteers during the day of the event, prior to the event there are around 120 hours of planning - with licence applications, road closure applications, bookings, writing event management plans, risk assessments, advertising etc etc - South West Event Management Solutions CIC are always looking for support with the events and would love to hear from anyone that would like to get involved and volunteer some time towards the event. Please drop Lucy an email if you are interested - lucyloweevents@outlook.com’