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Thousands Watch Film Star Turn
on Lossiemouth's Festive Season Lights
HAZEL LAWSON
Thousands of fans lined the streets of Lossiemouth on Saturday
to see film star Kevin McKidd switch on the town's Christmas
lights.
The Elgin-born actor, who has starred in
films including Trainspotting and Dog Soldiers, has recently
completed filming in Tomintoul for his new movie The Bum's Rush.
Kevin said he was overwhelmed by the response
of the crowd as admirers waved and blew kisses as he officially
turned on the lights.
He said: "It's really nice to be asked
to do this.
"I just finished filming in Tomintoul
and I'm travelling down to Glasgow now, so this has fitted in
well."
After a slight delay, prompting Kevin to
ask someone to put 50p in the electric meter, the lights illuminated
Lossiemouth's main thoroughfare, kicking off the festive celebrations.
Chairman of the Lossiemouth Millennium Association
Michael Burns said the group had raised £70,000 over the
past three years, enabling the Christmas lights to be extended
for about a mile along Clifton Road.
It is the third time the coastal town has
welcomed a celebrity to begin its Christmas festivities. Last
year, Australian soap star Jansen Spencer, who played Paul McClain
in Neighbours, attended the event, while Scottish actor Ewan
McGregor, whose brother, Colin, is serving at RAF Lossiemouth,
performed the honours.
The pipes and drums of 2622 Highland Squadron
heralded Kevin's arrival and played him along the esplanade
in an open-topped bus.
There was also a fairground, fireworks,
street entertainers and more than 20 stalls.
Kevin will begin working on a new film of
Greyfriars' Bobby in January and will appear on television screens
next year in the BBC drama The Key, which focuses on political
and social change in Glasgow during the past century.
There was also a blaze of Christmas colour
in Forres and Elgin on Saturday, when hundreds turned out for
their lights switch-on. Schoolboy Andrew Jackson, 11, of East
End Primary was the envy of his schoolmates as he lit up the
centre of Elgin.
This year's event was to have taken
place on November 23, but preparations were delayed because
of the floods which hit Elgin the weekend before.
Press
and Journal 2 December
2002
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