THOUSANDS of people gathered in Darwen for the Christmas light switch on.

The event, which has been hailed as a 'great success', took place at the earlier time of 2.30pm on Saturday in the town centre.

This year's switch on featured a star studded lineup including CBeebies Mr Bloom, dance music duo Phats and Small and X Factor winner Ben Haenow.

Cllr Jane Oates said: "It was fantastic, it went really well.

"There were thousands of people there it was a really good turn out.

"The children seemed to love Mr Bloom and Phats and Small really got the crowd going.

"It was a great success."