BARROW residents will gather this weekend to see the Christmas light switch on in the town centre.

Entertainment begins from 1pm on Saturday with Barrow BID organising street entertainers in Dalton Road and Portland Walk. They will be handing out Christmas event programmes and entertaining shoppers.

The Christmas Light event will begin at 3pm outside the town hall with a number of performers from the community.

It will be presented by Pete Murphy and attendees will be treated to performances from the likes of Megan Doherty, a 20-year-old singer/songwriter from Barrow, South Lakes Rock School and Stuart Michaels, founder of the Morecambe Music Festival.

They will be joined by a host of other acts who will be performing from 3pm-6pm, when the lights will be officially switched on.

This year the lights will be switched on by three special guests, brothers Oscar and Jasper Holt and Jay Wright. All three are young lads from Barrow with inspiring stories.

Jasper was born in 2013 with a life-limiting condition called mitochondrial disease, which in turn has caused a number of other medical problems.

He was not expected to live beyond one - but is now at school.

His older brother Oscar has been very supportive of his brother and has given up so much time to be with him during his care.

The boys’ dad Jeff said: “Both boys are really excited to be invited to switch on the Christmas lights, it came as a bit of a surprise for us all so it’s a real privilege.”

Jay is a an eight-year-old boy who has volunteered at Barrow Community Kitchen for nearly three years. He is there almost every Sunday helping those in need and has also help raise money for the kitchen as well.

His mother Sharon Foden said: “Me and his dad are extremely proud of Jay and he’s so excited to be involved in the light switch this weekend.”

Following the lights switch on, the event will close with a performance from Voce, a four man, Barrow based group offering popular music with a classical twist. The group won Lakes Got Talent 2013.

The event is sponsored by Barrow BID as well as a number of other charities and organised by volunteers including Beth Horan of Ultimate Events UK.

Beth said: “We wanted to give back to the community and worked with other volunteers to put the event together.”