Cappagh Village Community Group has admitted that, as a cost-cutting initiative, they asked a local meteorologist to use their knowledge of solar flares to predict the best night to advertise the Christmas Light ‘turn on’ and simply use the sky instead of an actual tree.

Villagers were unable to see the lights on the night due to a cloudy sky, but were told that a picture of the lights would be uploaded later to the community’s Facebook page, to a round of rapturous applause from those who were still standing about.

Optimistic locals claim that although it was slightly disappointing that there were no actual lights or trees, they will continue to congregate every night at 9pm at the village centre in case they turn up. They were also pleased that there was a bit of the moon poking through on the night.