IT is the time of year when people in and around Ludlow remember loved ones with the Tree of Light.

For the eighth year Ludlow Rotary Club will be offering people the opportunity to remember loved ones and celebrate happy events with dedications.

Ludlow’s Tree of Light has become an established part of the town’s Christmas and with the support of Ludlow Town Council the tree has become the focus of the Garden of Light.

It provides a chance to remember a special person or event or the memory of a loved one, by sponsoring a light on the tree in the gardens, which will be decorated with festoons of lights.

Since 2008 The Rotary Tree of Light has received hundreds of dedications and raised thousands of pounds for local and national charities including Midlands Air Ambulance, Ludlow Foyer, Alzheimer’s Society, Help for Heroes, Cancer Research UK, Ludlow Carer Group, Ludlow and District Riding for the Disabled, MacMillan Cancer Support, Working Together, Hope House Children’s Hospices, Kemp House and Severn Hospices.

The Tree will be switched on by the Mayor Councillor Paul Draper around 5pm on Saturday, November 28 immediately after the main switch on of the town’s Christmas lights.

An invited choir will head a torchlight procession through the town square to the Garden of Light for the switch on.

Dedication Forms are available from the shop in St Lawrence’s Church or Nock Deighton’s Ludlow Office.

The Dedication Forms can be returned to Nock Deighton’s office. They can also be downloaded from the Rotary website. Donations may be made by cheque, made payable to Rotary Club of Ludlow.

Not only does the tree act as a permanent reminder to all, but the dedications – printed in the Ludlow Advertiser, published on the Rotary Club's dedicated website at ludlowrotaryclub.org.uk/treeoflight.htm and in the Book of Remembrance on display in St Laurence church – all provide a permanent memory.

Each dedication costs a minimum of £5 and donations this year will benefit Rotary charity, including Midlands Air Ambulance.

The tree of light will be switched on as night falls on Saturday (November 28). Dedications can be made right up to Christmas Eve.