Two magical events celebrating the start of the festive season have been announced for Lowestoft.

The Christmas lights switch on will kick off the merriment on Saturday, November 18, with entertainment in the town centre from 3pm to 6pm.

It will include performances by Mark Read from boyband A1 - who is starring in this year's Marina Theatre pantomime Aladdin - along with other members of the panto cast, music from Breeze Redwine and Group A.

Families will also be able to enjoy the Santa Bus from the East Anglian Transport Museum, a fun fair and food and drink stalls.

Lowestoft Vision is giving one lucky family the chance to press the magic button and turn on the Christmas lights at 5pm by entering a free competition to find four Christmas elves hidden on shelves in shops around the town centre.

Led by The Beach radio team, the competition will start at 3pm and families will have one hour to find all the elves, fill out an entry form and hand it back to team. The winners will then be announced live on stage.

And in December, an exciting new event is planned for Lowestoft with a Christmas Spectacular featuring the biggest festive parade the town has ever seen.

Held on Friday, December 8, the parade will start at Station Square from 4pm, finishing at the Marina Theatre.

A special Santa Train will be looping the town centre for the duration of the event on London Road North, and there will also be a fun fair, face painting, bouncy castle, giant snow globe, reindeer and two Christmas fayres with food, drink and gifts on offer.

Shops will also be staying open late until the event comes to a close at 8pm.

A spokesman for Lowestoft Vision said: 'Each year we like to try something new and this year is no exception. We have the very popular Christmas lights switch on but we also have a brand new event called Lowestoft Christmas Spectacular. We are happy to say that there will be free car parking from 4pm in all car parks, with the exception of the railway car park, for both the switch on and the spectacular.'