UK city all set for Diwali festivities

Leicester, Oct 3 (PTI) The multicultural British city of Leicester, which is home to the biggest Diwali celebrations outside India, is all set for the festivities with its world-famous lights switching-on ceremony, scheduled for October 12.

Indian origin Lord Mayor of Leicester, Manjula Sood,
will switch on the lights at Belgrave Road which will be
followed by a colourful fireworks display and cultural shows.

The celebrations will end with another firework display
on Cossington Street Recreation Ground which is expected to be
watched by thousands of people from the city as well as Europe
and other parts of the world.

The display will feature more than 1000 metres of light
made up of 6,500 lamps.

For the sixth consecutive year, the popular event is
being sponsored by bank major Alliance & Leicester in the city
which has a large population of Hindu residents.

"Alliance & Leicester has helped to make our Diwali
celebrations a great success for several years now and we are
very pleased to announce that they are supporting us again
this year," the city Council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Any
Connelly, said.

Wishing everyone a happy Diwali, the Group Chief
Executive of the bank, David Bennett, said they are proud to
be sponsoring the event.
The annual celebrations are organised by the City Council
and Leicester Hindu Festival Council. PTI Corr APA