Chronicles of Narnia star Georgie Henley made the switch-on of Ilkley’s Christmas lights a magical evening on Saturday.
The schoolgirl film star, who lives in Ilkley, told the many families gathered on The Grove how the town’s festive lights had always been a highlight of the year for her.
She told crowds that of all the places she had visited on her film-making travels, including New Zealand, Japan and the United States, she still liked Ilkley the best.
Georgie, 11, played Lucy Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of Disney’s big-screen adaptations of C S Lewis’ classic children’s books. She’ll return to the Narnia set in early 2007 to start shooting the sequel, Prince Caspian.
Crowds waited in a cold and breezy Ilkley town centre for the young actress to make her appearance and push the brightly coloured plunger to light up the town for Christmas.
The build-up to the lights switch-on began with some festive singing, led by Ilkley singer, Shirley Britton, and a parade of schoolchildren, air cadets. Then Father Christmas aboard a horse-drawn carriage, made his way to The Grove from Springs lane, led by Town Crier Chris Richards.
