Silly string won t be seen at the Great Dunmow Christmas late night shopping event to be held on Friday evening in the High Street. The ban follows complaints from last year that children covered people in the goo by spraying cans in their faces and hair.

Silly string won't be seen at the Great Dunmow Christmas late night shopping event to be held on Friday evening in the High Street.

The ban follows complaints from last year that children covered people in the goo by spraying cans in their faces and hair.

Chamber of Commerce chairman and event organiser Mike Perry said: "It can be damaging to people's clothes and buildings so its something we don't want to see at this year's event.

"Anyone seen selling it will be escorted off the premises. We want it to be a very enjoyable evening with everyone having fun."

Silly string apart, the streets of Dunmow are still set to come alive as the High Street will be filled with stalls selling Christmas presents and raising money for charity.

The Dunmow Broadcast, the only newspaper in the town, will have a stall to help raise funds for the Dunmow Rotary Club.

Members of staff from the paper, kindly accompanied by members of the Rotary Club, will be on hand for a chat and a Christmas drink as they offer chances to win prizes. Games on the stall will include guessing the number of sweets in a jar, guessing the name of our snowman and a raffle to win a Christmas tree.

Don't hesitate to bring the children along to see what they can pick out of our very own Santa's sack.

We look forward to meeting you there.