24
Speeches
A line of stewards all dressed as elves opened the main gates to allow the crowd to enter. It looked like at least five hundred people had been waiting, and a second line of stewards directed them to the stage front area in the middle of the cricket ground. Waiting in a staff area alongside, Lucy watched Ellie jog across to the podium, check the microphone stand and then give it a brief tap before jogging off the other side. From the shadows behind a stage curtain, she gave a thumbs-up to the people waiting on the other side.
To claps and cheers, Donald Tremaine walked out, dressed in full traditional town criers’ garb but with a string of tinsel hung around his neck. He leaned over the microphone, spread his arms wide, and hollered, ‘It’s Chrissssssssmassssss!’ in a yodelin
