Derby's Christmas lights switch-on acts announced

Mike Dignam, Lucy Spraggan and Vetches

Mon 10 Nov 2014

Holidays are coming!

We're really getting into the Christmas spirit as we're only days away from lighting up Derby for Christmas as our Christmas Lights Switch-On will take place on Sat 15 Nov! The event consists of a festive parade from Babington Lane leading to the Market Place, where stage entertainment will take place from 3:30pm.

This November there's a whole host of entertainment from special guests Lucy Spraggan, local singer Jamie Joseph, Mike Dignam andDerby band Vetches. The event will be hosted by Capital FM Breakfast Show presenters Dino & Pete, from the Market Place stage.

The parade will begin at The Spot at 4:30pm and will see crowds and Christmas shoppers lining the route down to the Market Place. Derby’s own Nitro Neo – a 7 year old motocross racer - will lead the parade and will be followed by Santa and Naughty Meg from Derby LIVE’s production of Naughty Meg and the Christmas Elves and the Ambassadors of Borrowash brass band.

There will also be a host of local amateur theatre and dance groups involved. These include members of Derby City Council’s Pantomime Aladdin, the cast of Mickleover Players Dick Whittington, Kaleidoscope Players Treasure Island, and pupils from Stagecoach Derby.

The Christmas lights will be turned on at approx. 6pm by a selection of performers involved in the event and they will be joined by The Mayor of Derby, Councillor Shiraz Khan, Councillor Alison Martin, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture and the Youth Mayor, Belal Butt.

More info on the acts;

Vetches are a 3 piece pop/electronic/rock band hailing from the city of Derby. The three lads (Jamie Thompson, Lee Cooper and Seb Bois) formed in April 2014 after spending 6 months together in the studio writing and recording.

Mike Dignam is a singer-songwriter from the North-West of England who has been writing, recording and touring his own music for the past five years. In 2013 he supported Lewis Watson, Gabrielle Aplin and Lawson on sell-out UK tours and entered the iTunes singer-songwriter chart at number 5 with his EP ‘Live. Love. Sing.’ 2014 has already seen Mike writing with Jake Bugg, Matty Benbrook (Paolo Nutini), Sam McCarthy (The Kooks) and Nick Atkinson (Gabrielle Aplin). He has toured with ‘Tich’ on her UK tour and was the sole support on ‘5 Seconds Of Summer’s’ sold-out, 8-date UK tour and their tour of Australia.

Jamie Joseph is an upcoming 24-year-old soul singer and songwriter. His music and song writing has been inspired from growing up in a black working class area of Derby. Citing the influences of Motown and Stax Soul, Jamie brings a refreshing youthful twist to his music, which is a way for him to talk about the emotions and situations we all face in life. The last two years have seen Jamie constantly gigging up and down the country. He has recently performed on the UK national ‘Soul Acoustic Tour’, with the likes of Josh Osho, Terrie Walker and Shakka.

Lucy Spraggan is a musician who was born in Buxton, Derbyshire and attended the University of Derby. She describes her music as 'A-Flop', a mixture of acoustic, folk, and pop. Many people will know her from her audition for The X Factor in 2012, when she performed her own composition, 'Last Night'. She was the first contestant in the show's history to score a Top 40 single and album before the live shows even aired with her independently released album Top Room At The Zoo.