Tree of Light 2026: three free switch-on events

Southampton's Tree of Light is back for its 18th year, and Communicare has filled in the dates for three free switch-on events across the city. If you've never come across it, the idea is simple: hundreds of sponsored Christmas lights are hung on a tree, each one remembering a loved one or a special cause, and the money raised goes towards the charity's befriending and good neighbours' services, which tackle loneliness and isolation across Southampton. It's a quiet, community-led way to mark the season, and none of the events cost anything to attend.

The first is at St James' by the Park in Shirley on Sunday 15 November. It follows the church's Memorial Service at 3pm, with tea and cake from 4pm and a craft session before the switch-on at 5pm, when the huge tree outside the church comes on, covered in hundreds of sponsored lights. The church itself sits at the junction of Bellemoor Road, St James Road and Church Street, opposite the cafe in St James Park, and the office is just across the road on the corner of Church Street and St James Road.

Then there's a double bill on Saturday 5 December. Over in Banister Park, St Mark's Church on Archers Road holds its event from 4.30pm to 5.30pm, with activities, refreshments and carols before the lights come on at 5.30pm. The tree there is provided by The Gardens Group in Dorset. At the same time, the Woolston Millennium Garden on Bridge Road puts on its own switch-on, with Rising Stars providing free entertainment from 5pm, singing carols and festive songs before the tree is illuminated at 5.30pm. The garden was built to commemorate the Millennium and Woolston's history with aircraft and ships, and it's owned and maintained by the Woolston Community Association.

If you want to be part of it rather than just watch, sponsorship stays open until 31 December, with a suggested minimum of £8 per light. The names of those being remembered are recorded in a Remembrance Book and published on the charity's website, and you can send along photographs, poems or verses too. There's also a remembrance star you can ask the charity to send to your address to hang on your own tree at home. None of the three switch-on events need booking, so you can just turn up.

For forms and more information, the place to go is communicareinsouthampton.org.uk/tree-of-light-2026, or you can ring 023 8250 0050 or email accounts@communicareinsouthampton.org.uk. Communicare is a registered charity, number 1130000, and works across the whole city, from SO14 through to SO19, so there's a switch-on reasonably close to wherever you are in Southampton.