THE STAR of the pantomime at Lighthouse Poole this Christmas lit up the 20ft tree at Tower Park this evening.

CBBC presenter, Ed Petrie, who is playing the lead role in Robin Hood, was assisted by children from Centre Stage School of Dance and Performing Arts and Father Christmas to do the honours.

Scores of visitors at the retail park joined in the singing of some festive songs before the lights came on, including Last Christmas and Merry Christmas, Everyone.

Anne Jolliffe, manager of Tower Park, said: "Ed kindly agreed to come along and switch on the lights for us and he has been fantastic.

"Next year, we hope to extend this event further with stalls and even more entertainment for families to see.

"We've always had a tree here but we have just entered into a three-year partnership with a company called The Christmas Decorators, who created our tree for the first time.

"It is beautiful and what is lovely to see is the children singing away underneath it, which we hope to extend next year."

Decorated with hundreds of white fairy lights, the cone-shaped tree offers a beautiful centre piece in-between the shops and businesses such as Splashdown water park and the Empire cinema.

Ahead of the event, David Britton, managing director of The Christmas Decorators, said: "We were delighted when Tower Park Entertainment Centre asked us to design an extraordinary Christmas Tree, that would take guests' breath away."

He added that they "happily accepted the challenge" of designing the new tree, which will remain at the centre over the festive season for all to enjoy.