UPDATE: This event has been cancelled due to the weather conditions. Organisers hope to arrange something new for the Spring.

A FREE community event is returning again this Christmas.

The Christmas Garden will be held at Battery Gardens in Sandown, from 4pm to 7pm on Sunday (December 16).

Promising to light up Sandown Battery with festive spirit and fun for all the family, the event will celebrate one of Sandown Bay’s most interesting monuments and cliff-top gardens, bringing them to life.

The Christmas Garden will feature illuminations, seasonal craft and decoration workshops, tree dressing and music performances from Vectis Brass and Medina Community Choir.

There’ll be storytelling by Sue Bailey and street performers, the return of the Shadow Wall, and the chance to toast a marshmallow on the fire and dance in the snow.

There are even free homemade drinks and treats.

The event is a collaboration between The Common Space and Ventnor Exchange that aims to breathe life into the once-forgotten public space, while giving people a chance to gather together for festivities on a dark winter's night.

The Christmas Garden is funded by The Common Space, local Bay-based businesses Arc and Artecology, and benefited from a £500 donation from Sandown Town Council.

The Battery is soon to become home to the National Poo Museum, so there will be a chance to find out more about the Island's 'number two' attraction.

Thompson’s Nursery has kindly donated a Christmas tree for the event, which will be decorated during the evening before being passed on to the YMCA at Winchester House.