The Christmas light switch in Sandbach is going virtual this year as the Coronavirus restrictions continue to cancel in-person events.

The issue was discussed at Thursday's (22 October) meeting of the town council, where it was agreed a virtual event was the next best solution.

Mike Wellings, an officer at the town council, said: "We're suggesting a virtual switch on, which can be streamed either to our Facebook page or a website page specifically if needs be."

Some ideas for the event included a pieces of music submitted by Foden and Lion's brass bands, a speech from the mayor and to involve Dennis Robinson the Town Crier. Mr Wellings said: "I don't think we could have a Sandbach Christmas without Dennis."

The festive shop window competition is still set to go ahead with the winner announced by the mayor during the virtual event.

Cllr Geraint Price Jones, the mayor of Sandbach, said: "I'm totally in agreement with this plan and will be happy to take part. It's a real shame we won't be able to have the public involvement that we normally would. It's likely that we'll be under even tighter regulations as time goes on."

Cllr Donal Heggarty backed the move and praised the "innovative thinking" of the council officers for coming up with the solution.

Cllr Kathryn Flavell suggested that they all get involved in the form of a "council Christmas carol". Councillors would record a snippett of a song and then it would all be edited together for the event.

"We want to show Sandbach that we're getting into the spirit of it," the councillor added.

Cllr Kieran Seymour suggested a professional team should be brought in using the existing budget, telling councillors: "If we're going to do it, let's do it properly."