Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council has cancelled this year's Christmas market, which had been due to take place on Saturday, November 26. After announcing in October that the event would go ahead, the council has now had to perform an unfortunate festive U-turn.
In an email to the Warrington Guardian, the parish council said: "Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council are very sorry to be the bearers of bad news at this late stage, but due to circumstances way beyond our control, we find that we have to cancel the Culcheth Christmas Market."
That is a disappointing blow for a village event expected to feature stalls, food and drink. Pete Holmes had even been promoting the market on Twitter, inviting people to come down to #Culcheth and #Glazebury. Sadly, the festive shopping opportunity has now vanished from the calendar, taking plenty of potential mince-pie browsing with it.
The brighter news is that Christmas in Culcheth has not been completely cancelled. Carol singing and the switching-on of the village Christmas lights will still take place on Saturday, November 26. Additional events are also planned at Newchurch Parish Hall, the Methodist Hall, and the scout hut and centre on Jackson Avenue.
The market had been scheduled to run from 11am until 5pm. The Christmas lights are still expected to be switched on at approximately 4:15pm from Culcheth Millennium Garden, at the junction of Common Lane and Warrington Road.
So, while the market stalls will be conspicuous by their absence, the village will still have music, lights and community events. It is not quite the full festive spread originally promised, but at least Christmas has not been entirely sent to the naughty list.
The original report was written by community reporter Tom Bedworth for the Warrington Guardian. It also carried a note about an exclusive subscriber partnership with USA Today and said the article did not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.