The two men who devise and organise Mansfield’s Christmas lights, and a club that helped champion swimmer Rebecca Adlington with financial support in the early part of her career, have been commended by the Mayor of Mansfield, Kate Allsop.

Bill Taylor has been involved in the innovation and development of Mansfield’s Christmas street decorations since 1999.

Together with Mansfield District Council’s electrical supervisor, Andy Powers, he spends months planning the town’s seasonal display.

They attend Christmas lights exhibitions and work out which parts of the display should be replaced and improved each year.
The duo received a Mayor’s Commendation Award certificate at the start of a full council meeting.

Bill, who also helps to secure funding for the lights from various sources, including Mansfield BID and private and business sponsors, said: “Things have changed a lot over the 16 years I have been doing this.

“The lights all used to be tungsten when we began, but now 99% of them are LED. They are brighter, as well as being more energy efficient.

“What Andy and I do is work out how to get the best display within our budget — and we have never gone over budget yet.”

Andy said: “All year, Bill and I are looking at which areas we can improve. We also replace various sections and we seemed to have got a good response this year.”

The awards are handed out at each full council meeting and are chosen from nominations sent to the mayor.

It was a double celebration for Bill as a club of which he is a member, Mansfield’s Armchair Club, was also honoured.

The club, which has been running since 1982, helps to raise money to support sporting activities in Mansfield.

As its name suggests, it is run by a group of local businessmen and sports fans who now prefer to enjoy most of their sport from the comfort of a chair.

Each member has become involved through their own personal desire to contribute to the community, to see sport flourish in the Mansfield area, and to encourage and enable people of all ages and ability to participate and enjoy life through sport.

During its 33 years the club has organised many events and raised more than £200,000 for sports groups and sportsmen and women in the district.

One of its members is Steve Adlington, the father of Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington.

Steve was invited to join the club after it helped Rebecca with financial support in the early days of her swimming career
before she received national funding.

Steve said: “The financial help the Armchair Club gave Rebecca was really helpful at that point in her career and we felt very indebted to them.

“So when I was invited to join the club, I jumped at the chance. I feel like you are giving something back to the community.”

Mayor Allsop, who commended the efforts of all the award recipients, said: “All these people are worthy award winners because they all contribute so much for the good of Mansfield and long may that continue.

“The Christmas lights were just stunning this time and we had a lot of positive comments from the public about them. I am sure this year’s will even better.”

Councillors and members of the public can nominate a person to receive a Mayor’s commendation throughout the year by emailing [email protected] giving reasons why a group or individual should receive an award.