Christmas Lights

Since the mid 1990s The Cresidents have arranged and paid for the Christmas lights through various fund raising activities and donations, with contributions from the Arthur Road shops, WPRA and others.

Initially the lights consisted of bulbs strung along the local shop fronts, put up by Douglas and Monty. Later a tree was also erected on top of the church porch each year.

In 2001 Merton Council offered to put lights on 10 lamp posts in Arthur Road, pay for electricity and store them the rest of the year, provided the local community contributed £3,000. £1,936 was collected from local business (including £300 from the Wimbledon Park Residents' Association) and the rest of the money (plus extra for the Christmas tree) was raised at various fund raising events organised by The Cresidents.



The cost of erecting the tree each year became prohibitive, and with the kind permission of Christ the King, LED blanket lights are now put up over one of the trees in the church garden, using a hired cherry picker.

In 2009 the Council advised that the light sets for the lampposts were out of date and needed replacing with more modern LED lights, at a cost of £3,000 for three years. The Cresidents again managed to raise the money – with the help of local business, WPRA and the community.



However, the three year term came to an end in 2011. For 2012 The Cresidents again needed to raise funds to secure the Wimbledon Park Christmas lights for another three years, which was achieved with the help of local businesses and WPRA. In the last few years there have been no new costs, so the Cresidents have only needed to fund lights on the tree.   In the last twenty years the lights, tree and ceremonies have cost a total of £20,183.26, but what a difference it makes to our neighbourhood.