Merry Christmas Tree Festival

Merry Christmas to one and all!
(Our apologies for not having posted recently – one member of the team left the area, one has been unwell, and the others have been off helping with Christmas projects.  Back to normal in 2017 we hope.)

The Draycott Church Christmas Tree Festival is one of the sadly too few times when a broad range of our community comes together just to share something for fun.  Families, neighbours, schools, businesses, groups are all invited to dress a tree and place it in the church for a week to be admired and even smiled at!
You don’t have to be religious to join in; it’s for everyone.  And whoever came along got a free mince pie; you can’t beat that.

Christmas wishes and promises

A number of the trees this year, especially the ones dressed by children, had not just baubles and tinsel hung on them but Christmas wishes & promises too.  Some were sad, like the plea to stop wars, but some made us smile.
We particularly liked the one (pic below) in which one child promises to help their mum… not every day (that would be too hard…) but… nearly every day!

A Christmas promise that (nearly) can be kept!

The special school in Blythe Bridge, Portland School, also used its tree to remind us all that they take the spirit of seasonal goodwill very seriously, illustrating ways in which they are helping a project in Africa, in a town called Bakau Newtown in Gambia.

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To see more photos of this year’s trees, click here.

Groups

Well done to all those who put in trees.

The pupils of Draycott Moor College made a real effort to bring in theirs, as the first tree they completed was accidentally broken and they had to start over again.
Well done too to all those who came up with ‘themes’. Jackie Knott, one of the stalwarts of Blythe Cricket Club designed a tree of cricket bats and cricket balls, while the Draycott Bell Ringers constructed a miniature ringing tower to go with their tree.
First Tean Brownies, Forsbrook Tiddlers Group, the Draycott WI and the Draycott Craft Club were just some of the other groups to take part.
And an especial thanks to John Clarke who did all the hard work in getting the festival off the ground and making it a success.

Although there was a good turnout this year, of nearly twenty trees, it really should be better supported.  It’s all over now for the 2016 event, but wouldn’t it be great if, next year, there were fifty trees??