Telford twinkling for Christmas at lights switch-on
It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas in Telford after the town's shopping centre was lit up with thousands of twinkling lights.
Hundreds of families flocked to the centre on Saturday to enjoy the festivities at the annual Christmas light switch-on.
And staff pulled out the stops to officially launch the countdown to Christmas.
There was festive face painting, an elf doing balloon modelling, bauble making in a snow globe, two artists parading around the centre on stilts dressed as giant Christmas decorations and plenty more throughout the day.
Matt and Michelle Jones, and nine-year-old Sam, stopped to have their picture taken with the stilt walkers.
"The shopping centre looks magical at this time of year," Michelle said.
"I haven't felt very festive up until now but seeing all the lights and decorations puts you in the festive mood.
"And the entertainers on stilts were absolutely amazing. I've never seen anything like it before."
Saturday also saw the opening of Santa's Sorting Office in New Row.
Presents were shooting around the sorting office on slides and games were being played while the elves helped little ones write their perfect letter to Santa.
The man in red was also there himself to read the hundreds of letters that were written by children who were wishing to wake up to certain presents on the big day.
Max Ennis, 7, said: "I told Father Christmas that I wanted a giant T-rex and dinosaur egg for Christmas and I had fun playing games with the presents."
Santa Claus took a break from playing games and reading letters later in the evening to officially turn on the Christmas lights.
The sorting office is open, next door to House of Fraser, is open on selected days in the run up to Christmas, and there is a quiet session every Sunday until December 15 between 10am and 11am where there will be no music or flashing lights.
