Westbury spreads Christmas cheer worldwide!

WESTBURY businesses, schools and community groups wished all a Merry Christmas in a video that has now been seen by thousands across the world. 

A Christmas video, created by Leander Morales of GM3 Music and film makers Daniel Dobbie and John Wheeler on behalf of Westbury Town Council, sees schools in the town sing a Christmas carol, alongside businesses and organisations spreading  festive cheer. The compiled video features over 500 people including residents from Westbury’s twin town, Château-du-Loir and also Westbury in New York.

Also featured are famous faces Martin Kemp, Phil Harding, Mr B the gentleman rhymer, Spongebob Square-Pants and Father Christmas himself. 

The video was premiered to hundreds who gathered in the Market Place during the Christmas Lights switch-on on Saturday 1st December.

The reaction online has been phenomenal, says organisers, with hundreds of shares, thousands of views and ever-increasing comments. People have been sharing it with their families in different countries as far as New Zealand. 

Leander Morales said, “When Westbury Town Council gave me the opportunity to present a Christmas project to the event working group, I began thinking about how I could pull a community together during a time where much of the country seems divided through politics and different beliefs. I also wanted to find a way where people could still enjoy Christmas in Westbury, even though they may be unable to make the annual Christmas event. 

“The idea manifested from being a simple outdoor event through to creating a multi-layered event across the town centre with a permanent Christmas film featuring people from the community. 

“The video features around 500 people, the event involved around 200 people and I imagine over 2,000 people attended over the course of the day on December 1st. It just goes to show what can be achieved when the town pulls together.

“I’d like to thank Westbury Town Council for allowing me to work with them on this project, thanks to Daniel Dobbie who helped film some of the schools and thanks to local film-maker John Wheeler, for carefully editing the video. Finally, thanks to all the people who featured in the short film and to all those who helped make this possible.”

Mayor, cllr Ian Cunningham said, “The town council has been thinking a lot lately, as the town is getting bigger and the pressures of modern life increasing, about how to bring the community together. It was a big risk, playing around with Christmas, but Leander came to us and suggested we try and make it more fun and more about the people, rather than just a boring speech from the Mayor. 

“Over 500 people were in the video, which was brilliant but highlighted the practical problem that we couldn’t involve everyone. In the end, the choices were fairly random based on who was around when cameras were out and who picked up the phone etc. We can assure people that there was no naughty or nice list involved.”

“The reaction online has been phenomenal, even spreading to ex-residents who have emigrated to other countries such as New Zealand and America, with them sharing it amongst their friends. It’s going fairly viral and I think it’s because it is so upbeat!

“I don’t know what we can do next year to top it, but we have already had the conversation. We have a great team of staff at the town council who are always engaged to try and make things better alongside the councillors and people like Leander from the community. I’m sure we will come up with something! 

“I’m very proud of Westbury. Our aim was to make people think about others in the town and feel a part of the community and I think it worked.”