A community fundraiser for Christmas lights has increased its goal for the second time after residents donated in droves.

The Rochester City Centre Forum (RCCF) set up a crowdfunder on Friday evening and reached its goal of £12,500 within 24 hours.

But at the time of writing it’s exceeded £24,000 and the organisers have increased the overall goal to £50,000, expanding their ambitions for the decorations on the High Street.

The fundraiser was set up after Medway Council announced the lights would not go ahead this year due to budget issues.

However, on Saturday the authority reported it had reached an agreement with three companies - Norse Group, Marston Holdings and VolkerHighways - to fund the lights across the whole of Medway.

At this time the fundraiser had reached its initial goal and donations were still pouring in from residents and businesses who wanted to see the displays go up in Rochester High Street.

RCCF chairman Sarah Tranter said she was "flabbergasted" with people's generosity in response to the appeal.

She said: "It has absolutely exceeded our expectations and shows how deeply people in the community care.

"We have had donations from businesses up and down the town, from £1 to £5,000.

“To get £12,500 in 12 hours, we had no idea we would get that so quickly, that was for the basic lights. But then we had businesses phoning, wanting to donate more.

“We were being contacted by so many people saying “We want to give, we love Rochester so much. What can we do? We want to make it so much better.”

“You see some of the comments on the crowdfunding page and it is just an outpouring of love.”

The money raised will now go towards updating and improving the current stock lights, updating the designs, and become a legacy fund to ensure that Rochester never goes without Christmas lights.

The forum has said they want to expand the decorations so they cover the entirety of Rochester High Street, as currently they don’t cover Crow Lane to Star Hill.

Sarah added: “People look down there and think there’s nothing happening and walk back up, and of course there’s a lot happening down there.

“It’s a legacy fund because we don’t want to be in this same position next year. If things get worse, at least we’ve got this pocket.”

Shane Waterman, who set up the crowdfunding campaign on behalf of the forum, said the ambition for the fund is still growing.

He said: “We’re trying to keep this going, we now have proper negotiations for a sponsorship on an on-going basis. We're not talking about just this Christmas, we’re talking about an on-going thing.

“One major sponsor, possibly, is looking to put £50,000 to £100,000 in. I won’t say who it is but they’re a global luxury product which ties in with Christmas perfectly.”

The RCCF will be working with the local authority, with a cabinet member confirmed to be joining the legacy fund’s board to oversee how it is spent.

Shane added: “I think it’s great what Medway Council has done, when I see Vince Maple I’m going to shake his hand because I think what he has done is absolutely right but we’ve got to understand that what they are funding is putting the lights up and paying the electric bill.

“Expansion is something we’re looking at for this year. The lighting we have at the moment, because of updates with lightbulbs over the past 10 years, are going out of spec, they will need to be replaced, we’ve been using the same festoon for a number of years and we really want a new lighting design.

“Rochester Cathedral has just won a prestigious award for its lighting, it’s fabulous, we could replicate that in the High Street over the next few years.”

Shane says there’s a history of local businesses getting involved with funding Christmas decorations on the High Street, and this is something he’s keen to encourage.

“It was the retailers that originally clubbed together and got lights and they were only taken over by the council a few years ago. Before that it was all funded by the High Street and we want to get back to that.

“We want to help the other town centres achieve this as well. How fantastic would it be if Gillingham town centre had a Christmas light or laser show or something? This is what it is about.

“Rochester is synonymous with Christmas because of a bloke called Charles Dickens, we’re very lucky, but we want this to spread to all across Medway.”