Make Hackney Sparkle 2014
Hackney is set to sparkle this Christmas with a bumper month of festive events and seasonal entertainment, starting with the switch-on of the Town Hall Christmas lights this weekend.
With the support of Hackney’s business community, the Council will again Make Hackney Sparkle with a selection of free festive events, activities and entertainment that will run throughout December.
The programme will be detailed in a free 16 page supplement, distributed with Hackney Today, available from 1 December in venues throughout the borough. The first event to get Hackney in the festive spirit will be the annual switch-on of the Christmas lights event from 5:00pm on 29 November. Joining the Hackney Speaker, Cllr Sharon Patrick, to flick the switch will be Capital XTRA Breakfast Radio presenters Kojo and Jade, and characters from London’s most popular panto ‘Mother Goose’, that’s playing now at the Hackney Empire Theatre.
The audience at the Town Hall Square can also join the Hackney Community Choir in some traditional carol singing and cyclists have been invited to take part in the Cycling Sparkle competition, by decorating themselves and/or their bikes for a chance to win some fantastic prizes - from a new bike to safety gear.
Reflecting the borough's reputation in the fashion world, five Christmas trees have been created by a team of four top fashion designers - James Long, Lou Dalton, Craig Green and Princess Julia. Each unique tree design is located in one of the borough's five town centres.
One of last year's most popular events, the Cycle Cinema, is set to return. Brought to the borough by Elevenfiftyfive, Hackney's younger residents are invited to come along to St John at Hackney Church on two wheels to help power a free showing of two of the most popular kids movies of recent times, Frozen and The Lego Movie. Families can also sit back and enjoy the two films, with free cake as a reward for those with peddle power!
If you've yet to start your Christmas shopping, there are plenty of special festive shopping events planned throughout December at Hackney’s markets and across its town centres. Shoppers are being treated to free festive parking on streets near Hoxton and Ridley Road markets on key shopping dates. Other Christmas markets and pop-up festive entertainment includes street food and craft markets as well as carol concerts and Santa's grotto.
A big thank you to our local businesses and community groups who have shown their generosity by joining-in and making their financial contributions to commission this year’s Make Hackney Sparkle. There is a fantastic line-up of free events which include the now famous five Hackney Christmas Trees that are decorated by some of the borough’s top Fashion Designers. Make Hackney Sparkle events are taking place in every corner of the borough, they are for everyone to enjoy and will help get the festive season off to a great start. Across Hackney, you can shop local to get your presents sorted-out and stop off and have a bite to eat. Hackney has all this to offer and a lot more. Merry Christmas everyone!
Around £130,000 has been donated by a variety of national and local businesses including Derwent London, LPC Living, The Montcalm, Hackney Fashion Hub, Here East, Berkeley, Rocket Investments and XL Video. Local creative businesses have also donated their time and expertise and special thanks goes to Accept & Proceed, The Relative and Elevenfiftyfive.
You can also find loads of Christmas listings, offers and news by visiting Destination Hackney, by following @lovehackney on twitter and by using #MakeHackneySparkle.