AN annual hospice Christmas Tree light switch-on campaign which marks the lives of loved ones has been launched.

Thousands of people from the borough traditionally donate money in exchange for a Christmas Treet light which will be on display at a ceremony at Wigan and Leigh Hospice at Kildare Street from 6.30pm on Tuesday, December 5. 

The Hindley hospice's Light for a Life campaign, which has been running since 1998, gives people the opportunity to honour people they love or who have died in the run-up to the festive season.

As well as a Christmas Tree light, the names of the people the donations are in honour of are for will be entered into a Book of Dedications as a permanent tribute to them with a bound hard-back book put on display at the hospice in March along with previous editions.   

Community fundraiser Christine Edwardson said: “Light for a Life is an opportunity for us to remember people we have lost but also to give thanks for those people we love and care about.

“It is open to anybody who wants to make a meaningful dedication to someone they love or have loved.

“It is also a very important event for the hospice as the funds raised by dedications mean we can continue to support local people who have a life-limiting illness and those close to them.”

The ceremony will also include a reading followed by Christmas carols and hymns.

Dedications can be made by downloading a form at wlh.org.uk or picking one up at Wigan and Leigh Hospice shops, the hospice's reception and some GP and dentist surgeries across the borough.

A separate form must be completed for each dedication which can be made until the Twelfth night after Christmas, the end of the festive celebrations on Saturday, January 6.