Leeds United and Scotland hero Peter Lorimer turned his back on football to switch on Burley's lights.

The former player, who holds the all-time goal scoring record for Leeds, was meant to be commentating on the Premiership strugglers' 1-0 win at Charlton.

But he put Burley first and declined the chance to report on the Leeds win against Charlton.

Mr Lorimer, 56, whose son Simon lives in Burley, was asked to perform the switch on by his eight-year-old granddaughter Isabelle.

And her request was an invitation he simply could not refuse.

Mr Lorimer told the crowd of an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 people it was lovely to see such strong community spirit.

He added: "The last few weeks at Elland Road have been awful - so it is quite a relief for me to be here."

After the event he said: "I was meant to be doing the commentary on the Leeds game in London.

"With the result they had I would probably have liked to have seen that - it is a rare result these days."

But he stressed he had thoroughly enjoyed his afternoon in Burley.

"It was all very nice," he said. "It was wonderful to see the look on the kids faces.

"It is nice to think the tradition is being kept up in these smaller villages."

"Although the cities do have a switch-on it tends to be more of a commercial thing."

The lights switch-on, which was followed by fireworks, was the culmination of Burley's first Christmas market.

Organisers said they were delighted with the numbers who turned out to the event.

But heavy rain during the morning deterred many stall-holders from taking up their pitches.

Of the 27 who had booked, only 12 turned up to face the elements.

Chamber of Trade Chairman James Richards said: "Of course it is disappointing.

"But it is the first one and when we first thought about it we said if we got about half a dozen stall-holders we would have had a good day.

"The public have turned out - so the stall holders who have not come along are missing out." Among the traders who did turn up was the Mayor of Otley Nigel Francis.

He said: "It is a shame about the weather - because I know a lot of work has gone into this.

"But one thing I have always said is you can't control the weather." Also from Otley - were Sue Eastwood and Shirley Elliott.

The pair, who were selling beautiful hand-made Christmas tree decorations from the Czech republic - were both dressed in sumptuous Victorian outfits.

Sue said: "We thought that possibly everyone would be dressed up in the same way that they do for the Otley fair - and if not it would at least make people smile."

Even with a reduced number of stalls, visitors were offered a varied selection of goods, ranging from walking sticks to photograph albums, and candyfloss to doughnuts.

This year's lights were bigger and better than ever - with around 2,000 bulbs and more than 30 features.

And one of the features - showing the year - had been to Dumfries and back before it went on display.

Burley Community Council member Tom Sumner said a local helper who had always been responsible for changing the date in lights had moved to Scotland from Burley.

But instead of relinquishing the duty he had made an annual trip back to the village to ensure it was carried out.

Because he will be unable to come down this New Year he had already taken the sign to Dumfries and back to modify it, Mr Sumner said.

Local councillor Matt Palmer said: "There is a huge crowd here today and everyone is going away smiling - and obviously that is what is important. It has been a real success and I hope it goes from strength to strength."

Star performer: Peter Lorimer and his granddaughter Isobelle switch on the lights