SANTA came to town last night to help kick off the countdown to Christmas.

The centre of Andover was packed to bursting point for the annual Christmas lights switch-on event, with the crowds enjoying live music, food and drink and a carnival atmosphere.

The event culminated with the lights being switched on by Santa Claus himself, Andover Town mayor Councillor Barbara Long and eight-year-old Olivia Sacree, who won a poetry competition to do the honours of also pressing the big red button for the lights.

With the lights turned on, all that was left to do was enjoy a huge fireworks display from the Chantry Centre, with colour, light and noise filling the skies above Andover for around five minutes.

Santa Claus arrives in Andover

The evening got underway at around 5pm and the High Street steadily got more busy to enjoy the festivities of the evening.

An array of youngsters took to the stage including the Portway Glee Club, Vigo Primary School Choir, Stagecoach Andover and Fair Play Performing Arts while homegrown performers such as Jake Ward, Kate Steven, Maddison Douch and Jayne Deer also entertained the crowds.

Jayne Deer gets Andover singing along to This Is Me, from The Greatest Showman soundtrack

Youngsters could enjoy carnival rides and pose for pictures with a pair of 'reindeer' atop stilts.

Portway pupil Olivia's competition-winning poem was also read out to the crowds, and displayed on the big screen. It focused on the importance of loved ones at Christmas.

Year 4 pupil Olivia told the crowd: "The inspiration was that so many people come up to me and say I want this, this and this for Christmas and I ask 'do you see your family?'.

"Christmas is about family and friends."

Many of these images will appear in Friday's edition of the Andover Advertiser