CHRISTMAS cheer lit up Ingatestone on Friday evening as thousands poured into the village centre for the annual Victorian evening celebration.
The aroma of mulled wine wafted across Market Place as a trusty troupe of shop owners and community groups braved the chilly night air in costumes that wouldn't have been out of place in a Dickensian novel.
Members of the village choral society sang carols inside the Parish Church of St Edmund and St Mary, led by Gazette columnist the Reverend Patrick Sherring.
In the churchyard, festive fun-seekers queued to have a photograph taken in front of a nativity backdrop and the spirit-lifting yell of town crier Tony Appleton kept visitors informed with the wide variety of seasonal entertainment including Morris dancers.
The event, in its seventh year, was organised by a sub-committee of Ingatestone and Fryerning Parish Council and supported by many local businesses, principally Beresfords Estate Agents, and community groups including the Rotary Club of Ingatestone and the Anglo-European School.
