The show WILL go on as £80,000 of cabling stolen from Light Up Sir Harold Hillier Gardens At Christmas

Teams of designers and technicians worked through the night to make sure the show will go on after cables worth £80,000 were stolen during Storm Bert from the award-winning Light Up Sir Harold Hillier Gardens At Christmas.

After being forced to halt preparations on safety grounds over the weekend in the face of Storm Bert, organisers were horrified to return to the site on Monday to discover thousands of cables had been stolen.

“The site had been stripped, there wasn’t a cable to be seen; in that first moment it was absolutely heart-breaking,” said co-directors Libby Battaglia and Lucinda Croft.

“They had taken every cable, thousands of them, worth at least £80,000. We had to move very quickly to source replacements, which we did, then we had teams of technicians working through the night to get everything up and running in time for opening night.”

Organisers believe the on-site golf buggy was used to drive between installations and gather the cables.

“Bizarrely, a quantity of sweets and fizzy drinks was also stolen – perhaps they worked up a thirst?!”

A sparkling family celebration of Christmas and colour, the annual light trail at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey is designed and promoted by Light Up Trails, the award-winning, Hampshire-based company that specialises in creating light art trails in enchanting locations.

Last year, more than 72,000 people visited Light Up Sir Harold Hillier Gardens At Christmas and this year’s all-new trail is on course to be just as popular, if not even more so, with live entertainment on certain nights augmenting the light art installations.

A preview event tonight (Wednesday) had already been cancelled due to delays caused by the closure of the site over the weekend due to Storm Bert.