Truro Town Crier, Lionel Knight, has donated £10k of his own money towards the city’s Christmas lights scheme.
Truro Business Improvement District (BID) each year installs and maintains Truro’s city centre festive lighting scheme, which is funded by the levy contribution from over 400 businesses within the BID area.
Each year, elements of the scheme are refreshed and renewed, however following the BID’s successful renewal in October 2017, the budget has decreased by 20% annually because the contributions corelate to premises business rates – many of which saw a reduction in the updated financial budget of April 2017.
Truro-born and bred Lionel Knight and the Town Crier for Truro, decided he wanted to ‘give something back’ to the city that he loves, and so, has made an independent voluntary contribution of £10k in order to refresh the lighting scheme in Boscawen Street – which will now be named ‘Lionel’s Lights’ in his honour.
He commented: “I am very proud of my city, and I wanted to do something meaningful to help it grow and prosper.
“Being the Town Crier for Truro, I walk the streets and talk to the public every week, I volunteer my time to welcome people to this great little city. I talk to a lot of locals about Truro and how it can be improved and thrive for our community, particularly at Christmas. I want to see that continue by helping to refresh the lights and continue to see a bright and fresh feel going forward.”
Truro BID manager, Alun Jones, added: “We are absolutely overwhelmed by Lionel’s incredibly generous personal donation to Truro’s Christmas lights, his generosity will see the introduction of some new lighting motifs installed this Christmas which the community and visitors alike will be able to admire and enjoy for many years.”
