Businesses rewarded for adding to Christmas ambience in Victoria |21 January 2014

Many will agree that Victoria was elaborately and elegantly dressed during the festive season and those who had gone the extra mile to contribute to this pageantry have been rewarded.

The prize for best decorated business premises went to Eddy Westergreen’s Riverside Point. Mr Westergreen received a Christmas tree-shaped trophy from the Mayor of Victoria Jacqueline Moustache-Belle during the ceremony held last Friday at the STC conference room.

Present at the ceremony were Vice-President Danny Faure, principal secretaries, chief executives, business owners and members of the organising committee.

While addressing the guests present, Mrs Moustache-Belle thanked VP Faure for his support to the project and members of the business community “who abundantly decorated their premises”.

She also thanked the merchants who kept their shops open for extra hours and the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation who willingly increased the frequency of its bus services to encourage commuters to stay a while longer in Victoria.

“I would like to extend my gratitude towards the members of the public for appreciating our hard work and to show us you cared. Many were worried when we deliberately deflated the big Santa due to strong winds and I am proud to say that we did not lose anything, nor did we suffer any vandalism,” Mrs Moustache-Belle proudly said.

She said this year the organising committee will lay emphasis on the concept ‘Adopt your space for Christmas’. This concept targets mainly companies that are outside Victoria. They can adopt a space and decorate it. Last year only four companies adopted a space to decorate for Christmas. Air Seychelles decorated the Bicentenary roundabout, Pure Fm the Unity roundabout, Eden Island the Eden roundabout while Airtel won the ‘best sponsorship company decorated roundabout’ with their decoration at the Roche Caiman roundabout. It was Airtel Seychelles’ country manager Vikram Sinha who accepted the trophy from Mrs Moustache-Belle.

A third trophy was presented to Vijay Patel for his support and hard work for the decorating and lighting of Victoria.

People who formed part of the decorating team have each received a certificate of appreciation and all businesses who decorated their premises will also receive a certificate of appreciation.

Talking about his prize, Mr Westergreen said that he enjoys decorating his premises, even more so now that he has a daughter.

“Last year I put only half my lights that I normally put up, but my creativity has paid off,” Mr Westergreen said.

“I am already getting ready for this year, I have ordered my new lights and they are expected to arrive in February,” he noted.

Mrs Moustache-Belle also announced that the Mayor’s office will soon start a project asking people to post online photographs they took of Victoria during the last festive season.

“The details will be announced in the coming weeks, so please keep your photographs well secured,” she said.