08 December 2006 00:00 Central Networks lights up Shropshire communities for Christmas
Two communities in Shropshire are celebrating after receiving grants for new Christmas lights from local electricity distribution company Central Networks.
The Gorge and Ketley Parish Councils both received a £1,000 grant from the company, which is part of E.ON UK, to fund new Christmas lights and new trees.
Central Networks offered a total fund of £35,000 to parish councils across central England to light up communities and they received almost 300 applications.
The Gorge Parish Council will spend the money on brightening up its current display for the local community and visitors to the world heritage site.
Jayne Madeley from the parish council said: “Our display last year was labelled as the poorest by BBC Radio Shropshire - so we’re delighted that we can now afford new decorations and lights that will do our famous town some justice.”
Before receiving the money, the village of Ketley didn’t have a Christmas display. Ketley parish council will now spend the grant on a range of new lights, decorations and a tree.
John Roberts from the parish council said: “We’re thrilled with the news - it will mean so much to our local community and for the first time we will be able to have lights shining at Christmas.”
Central Networks Customer Operations Manager Phil Wilson said: “The spirit of Christmas is obviously very much alive within our region’s parishes and it’s great to be able to spread some cheer through our Christmas lights and decorations fund.”
“We were really impressed with both entries and we’re pleased that we’ve been able to light up two Shropshire communities this Christmas.”
The company, which serves 4.9 million customers across central England, launched the competition for the first time last year. After the success of the first campaign, Central Networks offered an extra £10,000 this time around to benefit even more parishes.
Ends
Notes to editors:
•Central Networks is the new name for Midlands Electricity and East Midlands Electricity and is a company of E.ON UK. The company brings power to 4.9 million customers across the East and West Midlands through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables and via almost 97,000 substations;
•Central Networks covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast.
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