switch on

Instead, organisers have been left scrambling to organise a muted switch-on, with Sunday's event cancelled following advice from its safety advisory group, amid nationwide security concerns in the wake of the Manchester synagogue attack.

The council said Christmas switch-on events would take place in Halesowen on 15 November, in Brierley Hill and Stourbridge on 22 November, in Sedgley on 23 November and in Dudley on 6 December.

High-profile cases include the stabbing of Ava White, who was just 12 when she was attacked by a boy at a Christmas lights switch-on event in 2021.

Starting from Goodison Park, at the junction of Spellow Lane and Goodison Road, the library lit up with a beam of light shooting into the sky in a symbolic switch-on, following live music performances..

Liverpool City Council leader Liam Robinson said the big switch-on was "an opportunity to show that hate will never win in our communities".