THOUSANDS of people gathered in City Park to begin the countdown to Christmas at a spectacular lights switch on involving flying opera singers and plenty of fireworks.

While many cities opt for a celebrity to draw in people when they switch on their festive lights, Bradford once again took the more unusual option, with Belgian street theatre troupe Theater Tol mixing opera, pyrotechnics, aerial acrobatics and projections of the city to wow crowds.

Although the day had threatened heavy fog and rain, for the most part the weather held out for the hour long event last night.

It started with carols being sung by pupils from Priestthorpe Primary School in Bingley and Our Lady and St Brendan's Primary School in Bradford.

That was followed by the Theatre Tol performance, called Pedalling Toward Heaven, when lavishly dressed performers pedalled around the mirror pool while singing classic opera arias. They were then strapped to a disk and hoisted up into the skies above City Park, where they thrilled the crowd passing over their heads while confetti and balloons fell below.

During one part of the performance the crowd was left in awe as the lead performed a haunting version of Ave Maria, which proved a highlight of the evening.

After the performers had been lowered back to earth, The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Mike Gibbons, started a countdown to switch on the lights. Once the switch was flipped a wave of fireworks and techno versions of Christmas classics ended the evening.