Levenshulme’s Father Christmas ditched his luxury Sleigh and decided to arrive in style on the iconic 192 Bus for the annual Levenshulme Lights Switch on and Christmas Street Party.

The massive community celebration on Friday 9th December attracted a record crowd of just over 1,200 people. The organisers had originally planned to give out 300 free presents to Local children, which had been paid for by local traders and sponsors. But when Santa decided to use his saver seven they managed to purchase a further 214 free presents for the children.

David Hennigan a spokesperson for Santa said “I think the children were a little disappointed when they did not see Rudolf and the rest of the Reindeers but it was great to see over 500 children smiling after receiving their free gift. Poor Father Christmas had to endure three hours in sub zero temperatures to make sure every child who queued up got to meet their hero and receive their present.”

The Switch On was officially carried out by the Rt Hon. Sir Gerald Kaufman,MP alongside local councillors. Manchester’s two Premiership Football Clubs; City and United also sent over their mascots - Moonchester, Moonbeam and Fred the Red to entertain the crowds. Whilst Levenshulme’s very own ‘Elvis’ – Joe Casserley from the award winning Full Irish Radio show on ALLFM provided the live music alongside St Mary’s Junior Choir.

Lawrence Hennigan, from Levenshulme Traders said, "We were delighted to Santa arrive on the bus - the kids were certainly surprised. The event was a huge success and despite the cold, some 1,200 local residents turned out to support the community celebration. I would like to thank the Council as well as the Levenshulme Traders, who were really generous in enabling us to give away over 500 free presents. Children as young as four weeks old met Santa - who certainly had his work cut out."

"The switch on was a major success and has capped an amazing year for our community. The Levenshulme Festival broke all records, our 'Levenshulme Means Business' event helped promote our local businesses. Next year we are looking forward to the annual Irish Festival in March and we have just found out, that the Olympic Torch will come to our village on the 24th June."

Darren McNeill, the store manager at Asda Levenshulme, added:
“It’s great to be a part of the Christmas celebrations in Levenshulme. As we’ve not long arrived in the area we want to help the local community in whichever way we can. We hope to continue to build links with organisations and projects.

“The lights switch on was a fantastic celebration and the colleagues at the store and I really enjoyed meeting local residents and helping out.”
The events main sponsors are Manchester City Council, Asda, Tesco, The Levenshulme Pub Company, Sanderson James Estate Agents, intime Taxis and the Horseshoe Pub with contributions from other local traders and organizations in the area.

More photos of the Christmas Lights 2011 Event here