DEDICATED community volunteer, Sid Guest, has been working round the clock to make sure Stretford Public Hall has a Christmas display to be proud of.

Sid, who’s 76, has been re-wiring the flood lights at the front of the building and has repaired and re-fixed the brackets that held the Christmas trees either side of front door. He’s also made the snowman for the festive scene that will be created outside the hall.

Sid’s hard work means that the Christmas trees that were traditionally up every year on the front of the building will be back again for the first time in five years.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had Christmas trees on the front of the hall and it’s something people always comment on,” said Sid. “The brackets that held them had become so badly corroded that I had to take them down, get rid of the corrosion and re paint them.”

Stretford Public Hall, on the corner of Chester Road and Kingsway, was built for the community by John Rylands in 1878. Sid and his wife Beryl, who live on Mayfiled Avenue in Stretford, held their wedding reception at the Grade ll listed building and the couple joined the campaign to save it from the developers and keep it for local people.

Trafford Council handed over the building to the Friends of Stretford Public Hall in 2015 and since then Sid, who was an electrician before he retired, has been a committed member of the maintenance team stripping out the old electrics, fitting locks, plumbing and gardening.

“I worked all my life and I enjoy working with tools. I’ve got a nice workshop at home and it helps to keep me young,” said Sid who has been working alongside his son Michael who now runs the family’s electrical business Blackburn and Murgatroyd. The company has donated and connected all the Christmas lights.

Two seven foot high Christmas trees have been donated by Newcroft Nurseries in Urmston.

Chair of the Board of Friends of Streford Public Hall, Annoushka Deighton said: “Sid has done a fantastic job. Along with a team of volunteers, he has worked tirelessly to make sure Stretford Public Hall has the best ever Christmas display. Thanks to Sid and Newcroft Nurseries the Christmas trees will be back on the front of the hall for the first time in years.

“We have made huge progress in getting the hall back into use as a community facility and a business hub. Without the work of Sid and our dedicated volunteers, who give their time and expertise so generously, that would not have been possible.”

All the hard work put in by Sid and the team will come to fruition during a Christmas celebration on December 10 when the hall will be lit up as part of the Stretford Advent Calendar where, on each day of Advent, the Christmas lights on a different local street or building will be switched on.

The event will run from 1- 5pm with the switch-on at 4pm. There will be mulled wine, hot food and cakes along with five different choirs, a string quartet and a guest appearance from Father Christmas.