Sun-powered festive lights

The 400 glow lamps which adorn the village centre's annual Christmas tree are being powered by the sun.

Felpham Village Conservation Society decided to capitalise on the area's sunny reputation, even in the middle of winter, by harnessing its power to provide some festive joy to the area.

The society's committee bought eight strings of the lamps after it proved impossible to arrange for mains electricity to be supplied to the tree in Felpham Road.

High fuel bills made traders reluctant to help out, even in exchange for some money, and it was not possible to tap into the street lamps' electricity supply.

Committee member Joan Aubrey Jones said: "Each string has a sensor attached which is dependent on the sun for charging to power the light bulbs.

"The disadvantages are that the light is not very strong and we have to wait for dusk for the light to be switched on automatically.