A YOUNG gymnast who has bounced back from a traumatic experience earlier in the year is switching on the Christmas lights of her hometown.

Abbie Keers, who was badly hurt by a beer bottle hurled by a drunken yob, is performing the honours in Stanley, County Durham, this Friday.

The ten-year-old was a passenger in her grandmother’s Fiat Punto when the window was broken and she was covered in glass.

She suffered horrific cuts to her nose and above her eye, but after surgery she bravely took part in a gymnastics competition, winning a silver medal.

Her mother, Clare Webb, of East Stanley, County Durham, said: “She is very excited about and looking forward to it. It came as a big surprise when she was asked. Her eyes widened and she said: ‘I am going to bring Christmas to Stanley’. We are very proud.”

Abbie trains Northern Hope Gymnastics Club in Birtley, but is currently taking a break after injuring her wrist, and is a pupil at East Stanley Primary School.

The incident happened when she was going to Shotley Bridge Hospital because her sister, Lexi, who is now four, was unwell, at around 10.30pm on Friday, February 14.

In August, Matthew McCrea, 24, of Tyne Vale, Stanley, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm at Durham Crown Court and was jailed for eight months.

Abbie is switching on the Christmas lights with Stanley Council chairman Councillor Alex Clegg.

The event, billed, as Stanley’s Christmas Lumiere, starts at the Civic Hall at the top of Front Street at 4pm.

It feature six installations on the town’s main street created by Highlights, a company that has previously worked on the popular Lumiere show in Durham.

The Stanley lights display includes an impressive £10,000 winter frost-effect tree, which was taken down hours after it was first unveiled two years ago over fears someone could be electrocuted.

It was made safe last year and now has pride of place as part of the community’s Christmas decorations.

The big switch on includes entertainment for children and face-painting, with the first 200 entitled to a voucher for a free hot dog or burger.

Stanley Town Council has allocated £10,000 from its budget for this year’s seasonal celebrations, which includes a carol service on December 14 and a party for the elderly the day after.

A specially designed grotto in the Civic Hall will be open every Saturday until Christmas.