Rain may have sadly stopped play this year at Bradford's annual Christmas light switch-on show - but it has not dampened the festive sparkle.

The lights were switched on anyway, despite the disappointment, bringing Christmas cheer to the city centre as shoppers blitz The Broadway, the Kirkgate Centre and surrounding streets in search of gifts for friends and family.

Annual festive lights switch ons never fail to pull in the crowds, with celebrities from soap stars to pop sensations coming to Bradford over the years to entertain and press the button to illuminate the streets.

Pop star and Bradfordian Gareth Gates - runner-up in the first ITV series of Pop Idol - turned them on for four years in a row, while stars of Emmerdale and Coronation Street have also wowed the crowds at the annual extravaganza.

In recent years Bradford has taken a more unusual option, with Belgian street theatre troupe Theater Tol mixing opera, pyrotechnics, aerial acrobatics and projections of the city to entertain. Last year thousands of people gathered in City Park to begin the countdown to Christmas at a spectacular switch on involving flying opera singers and plenty of fireworks. Reflected in the mirror pool, the display looked stunning.

Looking back over the years, in 1984 Bradford City footballer and later manager of the club Stuart McCall drew the crowds as he turned on the lights. He is pictured outside Marks & Spencer in Darley Street, trying to score a goal with a giant football. It is unlikely that he will succeed - the Scottish international star is pitted against two goalkeepers and a pint-sized goal. The weather looks as bad then as it was this year, with umbrellas raised above the heads of those who have gathered to watch.

For many years a reindeer parade took place in the city with a number of animals being led around, to the delight of young and old. Here, in 1995, children are clearly thrilled to see the creatures close up, prior to their outing with Santa on Christmas Eve. With bells jangling around their necks, a number of the gentle creatures were attached to a sleigh where Santa sat.

This photograph of the crowd enjoying the lights switch-on is a give-away of the period - just look at the hairstyles. So many curly perms in one photo - it must surely be the 1980s. And it is - 1988. Everyone is craning for a look - maybe you can spot yourself in the crowd, and if so, maybe you know who or what they were all looking at.