THIS year marks the tenth anniversary of the Celebration of Light – the staging of the beautiful candlelit peace garden at the back of the Friends Meeting House in High Street, Wellington.

The Celebration of Light started in 2008, which happened to be the year when the financial crisis began. Since then, people have increasingly recognised the need to move away from consuming ever more ‘things’ and towards connecting with people, to slow down, and to build and strengthen local communities in the face of an increasingly materialistic and uncertain world.

These are the values that the Celebration of Light is about. It is one small contribution, offering people in Wellington and the surrounding area an opportunity to stop and reflect at a time of year which has come to be busy and stressful with an overwhelming focus on what money can buy rather than how we can give of ourselves.

Visitors walk down a corridor transformed into a Narnia-type magical candlelit woodland and into the lantern-lit garden. Many past visitors have been touched, even deeply moved, by the experience. Some are just grateful for the opportunity to take some time out from their busy schedules. As one visitor to last year’s event put it: “The garden was so magical it took me to another world – I experienced a new sense of peace inside myself.”

The event begins this year on Saturday (December 2) from 4-7pm. It is then open on Wednesdays, December 6, 13 and 20, from 4-6.30pm. Entry is free and refreshments are available. Craft activities are on offer for children on December 6 and 20, and on December 13 storytelling and music for all ages is provided from 4.30-5.30pm.

ANNE ELLIOTT-DAY