First look at Sunderland Festival of Light

The event in Mowbray Park kicked off with a preview evening and opens to the public today, Thursday, October 12.

Transcript

00:00 Q. Councillor John Price, Islington City Council's portfolio holder for Vibrant City. It's the

00:05 first time you've been down and seen everything fully set up, what do you think?

00:08 Well, yes, as you said Kevin, tonight's the first night and we've seen it in its entirety.

00:14 It is absolutely fantastic. The people of Sunderland are really lucky to have such a

00:19 festival of light going on in their city. The lights and the special attractions tonight

00:25 with the displays is out of this world and I'm sure everyone that comes down will have

00:30 a tremendous evening. We've brought it into Mowbray Park from the seafront at Roker which

00:37 is a superb venue, there's so much to see and do. There's special pop-up activities

00:41 going on throughout the town and of course we hope by bringing it into the city centre

00:47 we'll also encourage people to use the restaurants and pubs and have a really good night.

00:51 Q. Right, so how long is it on for and how can people get down here?

00:55 Well the festival of light begins on Wednesday 11th October and will then take place from

01:01 4pm to 9pm every Thursday to Sunday until Saturday 11th November and every day during

01:09 our half-term week which is the 23rd to the 27th October. So everyone can get along to

01:15 Mowbray Park here in Burden Road.

01:18 Q. And it's admission by ticket only isn't it?

01:21 Admission is by ticket only and it's only £3 for adults, children under 2 are free

01:27 and you can get the tickets and details from mysunderland.co.uk

01:36 Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Dorothy Truman. We're here in Mowbray Park today, why has

01:41 the festival of light moved?

01:43 It's moved from Rorke to Mowbray because there's a lot of work going on in Rorke Park

01:51 and obviously these things are planned well in advance and they didn't know how far on

01:55 the work would be. That's the reason for being in Mowbray this year.

02:01 Q. And you've had a wander round, what do you think of the venue?

02:04 It's absolutely beautiful. Everything is fascinating but the Fairy Glade is definitely

02:13 the best. Everyone should come and see that and to come and see nothing else. The lights

02:18 are absolutely fabulous and everyone we've spoke to has thoroughly enjoyed it.

02:22 Peace.

02:23 Peace.