Mill Road Festive Lights works in partnership with traders, residents and local organisations to create an annual display of Festive Lights along Mill Road.
We depend on property owners to let us fix our decorations to their buildings.
We buy all of our own decorations, which makes things cheaper in the long run, and means we will be able to improve the display every year (we hope!)
We use LED light bulbs, which are environmentally friendly and energy efficient.
We work with Love Cambridge, who help us to get all the permissions we need from Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council. (Love Cambridge is the new name for Cambridge City Council’s Cambridge City Centre Partnership)
We liaise with representatives from the police, fire service, St Johns Ambulance and local Councils at Safety Advisory Group meetings.
In 2009 we used a specialist contractor to install power supplies and to put our decorations up and take them down again. At our 2010 AGM we decided to move to a volunteer model as soon as practically possible. We will still use qualified electricians and comply with all health & safety regulations, but we should save money, which we can spend on improving the Switch On and buying more lights.
We apply for grants where we can, but we are also reliant on donations and contributions from local traders and residents – without this extra funding, the display just won’t happen.
