THE festive season has truly kicked off in Stockton after the Christmas lights were switched on by two Premiership football stars yesterday.
Middlesbrough FC manager, Steve McClaren, and player, Franck Queudrue, were the men on the button, and at 6pm last night hundreds of lights along Stockton High Street burst into life.
The switch-on was accompanied by a dazzling fireworks display for the crowds which had come to witness the seasonal event.
Not to be outdone, Santa made his entrance using the original Batmobile from the 1960s TV series.
In the run-up to the event, pupils from Oxbridge Lane Primary School, Stockton, took to the stage to sing Christmas carols.
Councillor Alex Cunningham, Stockton Borough Council's cabinet member for education, leisure and cultural services, said: "I am sure Steve, who is one of Stockton's more famous residents, will score with the people of Stockton, who have turned out in large numbers to see him light up the High Street."
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