Video: Christmas market on Saturday in Sleaford cancelled due to Storm Arwen as festive lights are switched on

Sleaford Town Council had festvities planned tomorrow as part of its Twelve days of Christmas Markets events but they have announced today that due to the bad weather forecast of high winds, it will be cancelled.

They added that they had opted to be cautious and put safety as a priority as any shoppers and traders that would be turning up would be at their own risk: “We look forward to seeing traders and visitors at the rest of the markets,” they said.

Mayor of Sleaford, Coun Robert Oates said: “Unfortunately we have had to call tomorrow off. Public safety has to come first of course. It is a great shame but hopefully it will blow over by Monday and all the stalls will be back.”

Any entertainment that was planned will be rescheduled to another date and stallholders have been offered the chance to book pitches on othere days.

This afternoon’s Christmas lights switch has gone ahead as planned, with the Mayor of Sleaford and Town Crier at 4pm.

The market will run on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays from November 26 to December 20.

After a resasonably successful day today, the artisan pop-up market in Millstream Square in town will also not be going ahead tomorrow due to the high winds.

Harriet Baker from the precinct said: “It was going OK this morning and then it went a bit dreary but picked up again.

“We will be back on again for Small Business saturday on December 4. So far the events have been good and have created a nice atmosphere. We have put some Christmas trees up in the square and it is nice to hear people talking about it and feedback has been good.”