The first parish Christmas Tree Festival

St George’s was sparkling with both lights and creatity over the first weekend of December when the parish’s inaugural Christmas Tree Festival took place, also raising around £4,000 for charity.

An estimated 2,000 visitors came to see the 48 trees entered by individuals and organisations, most of whom had taken a imaginative approach to the invitation to create a tree reflecting something about them. The results ranged from a tepee to a tutu, from living flowers to cans of soup, copper pipes to industrial bearings and seemingly everything in between.

Visitors voted for their favourite trees and the overall winner was announced at the carol service on Sunday, December 7. when the raffle was also drawn. The winner was the Tice’s Meadow tree which was made entirely of materials found in the nature reserve with decorations created by children from Hawley Woods School.

There was a café all weekend, and on the Saturday there were craft stalls, live music and a visit from Father Christmas. Overall, the festival raised around £4,000 which has been divided between the parish and Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care.

There were many stand-out moments over the weekend. Among the favourites for Kris Lawrence were: “Children dancing in the aisles in the Carol Service. At the end of set up on Thursday when it was just the organisers, we switched off all the church lights and just soaked up the atmosphere. Similarly the choir singing Oh Holy Night at the end of the carol service with all the church lights switched off was a special moment.”

Rev’d Lexi Russell added: ‘In all my years of going to church this has to be the best event hosted by a parish. The community spirit throughout the festival has been amazing, with lots of people coming together to make each tree so individual and unique. It was clear to see the time, effort and creativity that had gone into each tree and it was a reflection of what can happen when a community comes together for a great cause.

“Of course, with a festival of this scale there has been a team of dedicated volunteers, who have been planning this for months, as well as though who came to lend a hand throughout the weekend – from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Without them, none of this would have been possible. And of course, I must thank those who gave their time to provide entertainment throughout the festival too. 

“I’m so proud to have been part of such a brilliant event and I’m looking forward to see how what may happen next year!”

Plans are already in place for another festival next year. Meanwhile, here is a glimpse of this year’s one: