Village left in dark after turning up for Christmas tree lights switch-on to find they'd been STOLEN

Thieves left a village in the dark after stealing the Christmas trees lights before the big switch-on.

Dozens of families and children gathered around the tree in Grotton in Saddleworth for the village's festive get-together. But to the horror of organisers when they went to flip the switch they found there was nothing to turn on.

It's thought the lights, which were bought last year, were stolen sometime in the hours before the switch-on, having only been put up the night before.

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Local councillor Alicia Marland said: "It's just so disappointing. I'm quite proud of getting the tree planted

"It was funded by the community and it was a real joint effort. So for someone to steal the lights, it's like 'really?'."

But despite the heartless theft, organisers managed to rescue the event. Quick-thinking Coun Marland told the youngsters 'naughty elves' had hidden the lights.

And as the brass band played, the countdown was still held with those gathered asked to shine their mobile phone torches towards the tree.

The lights were also replaced that same night, after the installation company Christmas Plus heard of the theft and stopped off on their way home from Rochdale town centre's switch-on to put up a new set.

Coun Marland added: "We had Father Christmas waiting in the wings and we didn't want to disappoint the kids so we still had the countdown and the brass band played, so we still had a good time."