Audlem in Gossip magazines

Each month, the AudlemOnline team sends a 500-word article about the village to the publishers of the Whitchurch Gossip and Market Drayton Gossip magazines.

These excellent publications are widely (and freely) distributed in North Shropshire and many in Audlem see a copy, particularly of the Whitchurch magazine. Many of our readers, however, are outside their distribution area.

We thought you might like to read what we said about the village this month:

The Big Switch On In Audlem

One of the best days in the busy Audlem calendar is on Thursday 27th November. The Big Switch On is the night the lights on the village's fifty Christmas trees are illuminated, the big tree in the Square is lit up for the Festive Season and Santa arrives via the canal on Audlem Lass.

The shops are open late, giving everyone an early start for present buying and a chance to meet the village traders and, in some cases enjoy a welcoming drink.

The children of Audlem school parade to the village centre and huge crowds enjoy an event that was introduced five years ago.

Now, Audlem Traders Association, the Friends of Audlem School Association (FASA), the Audlem District Amenities Society (ADAS) and the Audlem Lass/RNLI team work together to provide a magical event for children and adults alike.

Arrangements are now well advanced for Santa's arrival. Audlem Lass will be bringing Santa to the Wharf by the Shroppie Fly and Audlem Mill at 6.00pm. For everyone's safety, barriers will be in position alongside the canal and the forecourt of Audlem Mill will be the hub of this part of the event.

Around thirty or more volunteers will be working as Safety Marshalls all dressed in RNLI tabards. Additional lighting is also being installed in the area.

'Wish Candles' will again be on sale when messages can be written by the children and then floated on the canal creating a wonderful sight as Santa arrives. The profits from the sale of candles will be split equally between ADAS (Audlem District Amenities Society) who install all the illuminated Christmas trees and RNLI who provide the candles and look after operations by the canal.

It's then up to the village Square where, with a roared out count-down, the big tree is illuminated by this year's sponsors before Santa moves off to his grotto.

This is a fabulous event providing a great evening for young and old alike and raising money for two excellent charitable organisations.

The Big Switch On is just one of the major events enjoyed by residents and visitors in Audlem. The late May Bank Holiday each year sees the Audlem Festival featuring music and art with many top bands and performers.

July brings two great events organised by the Audlem Special Events Team (ASET): Party on the Park where several thousand picnic and enjoy great music on the big stage on the playing field.

Then, late July has three hundred vehicles parading through the village for the Audlem Transport Festival while on the canal, Audlem Mill arranges the Historic Boat Gathering with forty or more historic narrow boats creating a colourful scene on the Shropshire Union canal for almost a mile.

August sees the Audlem Beer Festival and most recently, on November 8th this year, the Audlem Bonfire & Fireworks sees large crowds turning out for the massive computerised Blitz display set to music, the best fireworks display for many a mile.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.