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Community rallies after 'Scrooge' council pulled plug on Christmas

BBC Boston town centreBBC
The 2016 Christmas lights display was compared unfavourably to a living room Christmas tree by some

Residents in a town dubbed "the place Christmas forgot" have rallied round to make this year's festive display "look amazing".

It comes after Boston Borough Council was branded "miserable Scrooges" for a "dismal" festive offering in 2016.

The Christmas in Boston community group said it wanted to make up for the disappointment of last year.

A local jewellers has also offered to pay for people to park in council-owned car parks for the lights switch-on.

Boston Borough Council said it was "very grateful" for the offer from Hoppers.

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Previous displays in the town have featured an array of lights along the town's cobbled shopping streets.

Christopher Lewis Boston town centre in previous yearsChristopher Lewis
Christmas lights on Church Street, Boston, in previous years

But last year, the festive lights were widely criticised, with one comment saying: "Think it's safe to say Boston has cancelled Christmas this year!!!...shameful."

In other comments, Boston was dubbed "the town Christmas forgot".

Lights in Boston
The council was labelled "a bunch of miserable scrooges" and the display "dismal" after the authority withdrew its funding in 2016

The community group - which has raised the funds for this year's lights - said it wanted to "bring back the Christmas spirit to Boston and make the town look amazing".

Chairman Dylan Taylor said: "This has been a great community campaign supported by local businesses, and a great platform to build on."

Tim Hopper, from Hoppers jewellers, said he had hoped the council would have offered free parking as a gesture of good will, but "it wasn't to be".

The town's mayor Brian Rush said: "These are the people who really care about our town."

"There are people who knock the town - but when the chips are down the people of Boston will stand up and be counted, and that's what they have done this year," he said.