Last updated at 11:26, Tuesday, 24 November 2009

BARROW witnessed a Christmas miracle on Saturday when persistent driving rain suddenly stopped in time for the lights switch-on ceremony starring the Hairy Bikers.

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Earlier, the entrance of Forum 28 was crammed with people sheltering from the heavy rain and wind, and the rain resumed soon after the switch-on.

A crowd of more than 500 people, many of them with children waving glow sticks, materialised for the warm up by the Bollywood Brass Band, and local singer Dennis Horan.

The plan to have dancers on stage with Mr Horan was cancelled because of the slippery surface.

The fair booked for the event was trapped in North Cumbria by the flooding emergency, organiser Ann Taylforth, town centre manager for Barrow Borough Council, confirmed.

The Bay radio presenters Darren Milby and Danny Matthews hosted the show and introduced Mayor of Barrow, Councillor Dorothy Dawes, and Walney schoolboy Scott Speed, 12, who won the Bay Radio competition to switch on the lights with the popular TV cooks.

There was a cheer as the Hairy Bikers themselves took to the stage with some hearty comments.

The switch on also featured a procession of children carrying Christmas lanterns.

The Barrovian half of the hairy duo, Dave Myers, is patron of the Furness Multicultural Forum which organised the switch on event and preceding multicultural winter festival with Barrow Borough Council.

At 5pm there was a mass countdown by the crowd before Scott Speed pulled the lever and the Christmas lights went on all around the town. The giant tree in Town Square was donated by Furness Building Society and Coronation Gardens features a tree donated to the town by United Utilities.

Danny Matthews, breakfast show presenter of Bay Radio said: “It was brilliant. The great thing about Barrow is that everybody turns out no matter what the weather is like.

“It was amazing the way everybody came from nowhere, they must have been hiding in the shops!”

Despite the miraculous break in the rain and the big turn out, attendances at the day-long multicultural programme in Forum 28, which included dances and displays, played to less people than expected due to the weather.

Donika Begaj, treasurer of the Multicultural Forum ,said: “It’s a real shame because a lot of people have put a lot of effort into organising this and it is just such a shame that weather is like this.”

But chairman Bob Qazi said around 3,000 people had still been through the doors of Forum 28 for the events during the day despite the awful weather.

He said: “It’s a measure of how much people want to see our events and want to learn about other cultures which is what we are about.”

As usual Hairy Bikers Dave Myers and Si King gave value for money and made everyone feel they wouldn’t have been anywhere else in the world, but at Barrow’s Christmas lights switch on.

Smartly dressed in Crombie coats the pair joked with the crowd and signed autographs and were in no hurry to get away afterwards.

Dave said of the switch on: “I think it’s magic, it’s a great honour.

“Cumbria has had a hell of a hammering for the past week. It’s great that Barrow folk are out and have braved the weather. It feels like Christmas.”

Si added: “I love Barrow-in-Furness, the people are great and the food is great. Cumbria is a very beautiful part of the world and this is where my best mate lives. I am backward and forward to Cumbria all the time. What a turn out it was tonight for a town this size, it’s fantastic.”

The pair have had a busy year, with a number of television series recorded throughout 2009.

Last month Si was involved in an accident in Gosforth, Newcastle, as the pair were heading to do some filming for the their BBC Christmas special. He was badly bruised but returned home from hospital the same day.

Dave said: “This has been a very busy year for us. We were on the road for 10 months doing the Food Tour of Britain then we went straight into our Christmas Special The Hairy Bikers: 12 Days of Christmas which will be screened on December 15.

“We are doing another TV series Mums Know Best which is the first one hour show we have done on BBC 2 and that starts screening in January.

“There are six one hour shows.”

The programme is about dishes favoured by mums and grandmas around the world from baps to curries, the TV chef explained.

He added: “It’s a cross between Top Gear and the Antiques Road Show, we’ve got 200 mothers all swapping recipes and tips. It’s a good show. “

The pair will also be touring the UK, including a stop-off in Barrow, in March with a new Hairy Bikers Big Night Out show.

Dave said: “It is a completely different show from the last one.”

The show is directed by Bob Mortimer of Reeves and Mortimer fame.

“Madness is guaranteed,” added Dave, who arrived at the switch-on with Si following a book signing event at Waterstones in Portland Walk.

Dave Myers became patron of the Multicultural Society in Barrow because his partner Lilli is Romanian

He said: “I came into it very much as a customer and I got to know about the great work they do.

“Now Lilli lives here and she does a lot of work with the Multicultural Centre in schools.

“It is something of which the town should be very proud.”

First published at 12:58, Monday, 23 November 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk