This year, Hay-on-Wye has received a £500 funding boost for this year’s Christmas lights thanks to Welsh Water’s Community Fund.

Each year, the Hay and District Chamber of Commerce, the Hay Town Council and Hay Markets work together to light up the town and organise the great “switch-on” event to get the Hay community into the Christmas spirit.

The event this year, which took place on Friday, November 24, attracted visitors from near and far, with stalls selling festive food and drink and the local primary school and local choirs spreading some Christmas cheer as the town switches on its annual Christmas lights.

Organisers of this year’s event said: "The organisers would like to thank Welsh Water for their kind contribution towards the costs of putting up the lights and the switch-on event this year. The event was once again a huge success and a fantastic start to the festive season."

The not-for-profit company is currently investing over £20 million to upgrade the water network between Llyswen and Clifford. The work that that was taking place in Hay-on-Wye came to a halt on Friday, November 17 to support the Christmas festivities and will resume in the New Year.

This investment being made will see improvements made to the existing water network which will help ensure the company continue to provide homes, schools and businesses with a safe, reliable supply of clean drinking water for decades to come. 

Welsh Water’s Project Manager, Jonathan Davies, said: “As a company, we’re investing £1.8 billion in our water and wastewater network between 2020 and 2025 to make sure we can deliver the best service possible for our customers. As part of this, we are investing over £20 million to upgrade the water network between Llyswen and Clifford. This will not only help improve the quality of our drinking water for customers in the area, but also help ensure they receive a supply of clean, fresh drinking water for years to come. 

“We appreciate that this kind of work can cause some inconvenience, but we will do all we can to keep this to a minimum and would like to thank people for bearing with us whilst we undertake these essential works in their community."