The people of Wyke Regis a suburb of Weymouth in Dorset are facing this Christmas with their lovely Christmas tree in darkness after it has been reported that the lights have been cut off by the local street light provider.
For over 20 years the people of Wyke Regis have been provided a huge Christmas tree and lights by a local individual who has remained anonymous. Each year they are adorned with lovely lights and cheer up the old square in Wyke Regis originally a village separate from Weymouth that has over 1000 years of history.
Gary Hepburn of Wyke Regis TV received a call late on Tuesday evening (21st December) to tell him that a safety check of the tree by the donator had revealed that the lights had not only been disconnected but the cable feeding them had been cut up into little pieces so there was no way they could be put on. Because of the way this had been done the caller was certain it had been done by the street light provider.
The caller said “ I really cant believe the meanness of the company or engineer that did this, right on Christmas. Local people have missed so much this year with local carol singing in the square and many other events cancelled due to Covid. Lots of people are poorly and many have suffered loss during the pandemic. The tree is the one piece of joy and brightness left in the heart of the village that brought some normality to this year above all the difficulties. I really cant understand the meanness of these massive utilities that are so quick to take money from their customers, and then taking away something done for the community that has been cherished for so many years. Nobody has contacted us they have just disconnected the lights and chopped up the cable.”
An internet search by Wyke Regis TV shows on the Dorset Council website that SSE Contracting Ltd is the streetlight provider and it looks as if they have recently been sold to Aurelius Group.
Gary Hepburn who runs Wyke Regis TV a local internet based weekly news programme said “Ive had several calls this evening from members of the community as well as the donator of the tree and local people are really upset and angry. They are telling me it is awful this has happened when we are in the middle of the pandemic with local activities cancelled and high rates of Covid. Other areas of the town have their trees provided by the local authority and lit up and Wyke people have always had to fund and provide their own tree, which makes it worse. I will be contacting the local authority and councillors in the morning to see if they can help in any way to get the tree lights back on by Christmas Eve.”
Gary Hepburn
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