Blackpool Illuminations will run for an extra two months in 2021 – with the festival of lights set to remain on display beyond New Year’s Eve.
The seaside town’s popular tourist attraction is usually held between late August and early November, but was extended by an extra eight weeks in 2020 as COVID-19 restrictions scuppered visits and lowered footfall.
On Wednesday, tourist organisation VisitBlackpool confirmed that the illuminations season will run a longer edition for the second successive year.
The official light switch-on will take place on Friday 3 September 2021; brightening the skies until Monday 3 January, 2022.
VisitBlackpool has also confirmed that this year’s illuminations will be complemented by a ‘significantly enhanced, resort-wide Christmas offer’, with details due to be announced in the coming weeks.
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VisitBlackpool
BREAKING: Blackpool Illuminations to be extended by two months again – 3 September 2021 to 3 January 2022. To give boost to its hard-hit tourism industry. Resort also promising a "significantly enhanced" Christmas.
Organisers stated the extension was being made to give the seaside town’s hard-hit tourism industry an essential boost, with the pandemic expected to cause continued disruption throughout the first half of 2021.
Cllr Gillian Campbell, Cabinet Member for Tourism & Culture for Blackpool Council, said: “Although last year’s extension was disrupted by tier restrictions and a second lockdown, all of the evidence showed that there was a huge appetite for the public to visit the Illuminations in a safe and enjoyable way.
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“We know from the all of the positive feedback that we received that, amid so much gloom, the Illuminations provided a much-needed tonic to so many people.
“We are making this decision early so that our businesses can start to plan for the extended season. At the same time, we are planning a comprehensive package of themed shows, events and attractions to give visitors plenty of reasons to come to Blackpool over the festive season.”
A number of events have already been announced for Blackpool’s winter programme, including Friends Festive Live at the Winter Gardens in November and Strictly judge Shirley Ballas starring in a Cinderella panto at the Opera House in December.
Last year, Blackpool’s famous light switch-on event was replaced for the first time in 70 years – presented as a virtual show in association with MTV.
Greater Manchester public urged to help get people ‘off the streets and on their feet’ before Christmas
Emily Sergeant
Locals are being urged to help get hundreds of people “off the streets and back on their feet” this festive season.
As the temperatures told colder by the day, and Christmas creeps closer and closer, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is bringing back ‘1000 Beds for Christmas’, and the massively-important initiative is aiming to provide 1,000 nights of accommodation to people at risk of homelessness before the big day arrives.
Forming part of the ongoing ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, this festive fundraising mission is designed to provide food, shelter, warmth, and dedicated vital wrap-around support for those who need it most.
The charity says it wants to build on the “incredible success of 2023”, which raised more than £55,000 and provided 1,800 nights of accommodation.
Stockport-based property finance specialists, Together – which has supported the campaign for the last two years – has, once again, generously pledged to match every public donation for the first £20,000 raised.
Unfamiliar with the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme? Since 2017, when rough sleeping peaked, the initiative has helped ensure a significantly-higher rate of reduction in the numbers of people facing a night on streets in Greater Manchester than seen nationally.
The landmark scheme has given people the chance to rebuild their lives, while also giving them access to key services and opportunities that allows them to stay off the streets for good.
Despite the scheme’s recent success, organisations across Greater Manchester are under “a huge amount of pressure” to meet the demand for their services this winter, and given the current economic outlook, household budgets will continue to be squeezed – leaving people on the sharp end of inequality and poverty.
The Manc -
11th February 2021 
