Release the Shoppers

ADAS Big SWON – Release the Shoppers

Citizens! Villagers! People who wandered in by accident looking for the bus stop! This Friday, 28th November, ADAS will activate the Big Switch On—the moment when our peaceful village is blasted with enough twinkly lights to make aircraft question their flight paths. This switch on turns our lovely village from “charming” to “so sparkly it can probably be seen from space.”

But before we are blinded by this festive glory, there is a VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.

Shop locally or face dire consequences, such as having to buy everything online and receiving parcels that contain the wrong thing, the right thing but broken, or a mysterious item labelled “surprise.”

Our local shops sell genuinely fabulous things. Beautiful things.Useful things. Shiny things. They’re not virtual shops where you add six items to your cart and three mysteriously vanish.

They’re not giant retailers who ship you something that looks nothing like the picture and smells faintly of despair. No, they are actual human beings stocking actual shelves with actual items you can physically touch. It’s witchcraft, honestly. They have things you didn’t know you needed until you stood there going, “Oh yes. I absolutely require a hand-carved festive hedgehog. Immediately.”

And the prices? Totally reasonable! Shockingly reasonable! You may even feel compelled to ask the shopkeeper, “Are you sure this isn’t more?”

And I’m not threatening you. I’m simply pointing out—in the most cheerful and non-menacing way possible—that shops cannot survive on vibes alone.

Just imagine: A future where you stroll down the high street and all the shops have turned into questionable pop-up businesses selling things like “artisanal air” and “locally sourced disappointment.” Nobody wants that.

Let’s see hordes this Friday, yes, hordes. Let’s see crowds so large that the pigeons have to file a noise complaint. Let’s see so many locals shopping that the tills start humming carols. Let’s see crowds of happy, jingle-bell-wielding, mince-pie-munching residents clutching bags of goodies, with children wired on sugar and running in zigzags like festive sheepdogs.THIS is the energy we need. So come out this Friday. Bring your friends. Bring your family. Bring that neighbour you’re not sure about but who might buy something delightful.

Let’s fill the shops, fill the streets, and fill the local economy with enough good cheer to last until February.

Let’s make our shopkeepers gasp, “Where did all these people come from?”Let’s make the tills sing like a choir of financially responsible angels. Let’s make the village come alive—because nothing says “festive spirit” like supporting the wonderful small businesses that make our streets worth walking down.

THE LIGHTS WILL SWITCH ON……and so should your desire to support the lovely, hardworking humans who run our shops.

Because nothing—and I mean NOTHING—says Christmas like marching triumphantly into a local shop and emerging with a bag of delights, feeling like the festive hero this village deserves.