It's time to think about the Christmas Tree Festival
Judy and Mary have been running the Widecombe Christmas Tree Festival at St. Pancras church for over ten years now. Judy writes....
The Widecombe Christmas Tree Festival has become a well established tradition in the Village with various groups and individuals taking part.
Each year, a new theme for decorating the trees is decided upon, and this year’s theme, chosen by a local family who take part every year, is “ A Christmas Character”, which, as usual , can be interpreted any way the participants like!
There is no entry fee for the Festival, either for participants or visitors, but we do make a collection for a Children’s charity each year. We try to chose a smallish charity where the money we raise will really make a difference.
Last year, we were able to present the cheque, in person, to ‘Asperations’ (charity number 1132344) and it was lovely to meet the people who run this very worthwhile charity.
This year’s Charity is Balloons (charity number 1158666), a charity based in Exeter which supports bereaved children and young persons across Exeter, East and Mid-Devon.
We have always had two categories for the trees - one for those decorated by adults and the other for trees decorated by children. For the last few years we have added a third category and a special prize for the best small tree. We ask the public to vote for their favourite trees; we find this encourages people to really study the trees, and so all the effort the participants have put into preparing and decorating their trees can be really appreciated.
Please do think about decorating a tree. We have visitors who come back year after year to see what we have been doing this year; and we even had a marriage proposal under the trees one year!
Visitors are invited to take home a memento of the Festival in the form of a Prayer Flag hanging on a special tree, and we are just starting to make the ones for this year, we normally give out about 250! We like to keep an account of where the flags go, as it is lovely to think of our flags travelling right across the world!
We have a team of stewards who take it in turns to be in the Church all the time it is open over the Festival. If you feel you would be able to join the team, please do let us know, it is really special seeing how much people appreciate the decorated trees.
This year we will put the trees up on Friday 13th December in time for the Widecombe Christmas Market on Saturday 14th December. The Widecombe Carol Service is 4pm on Sunday 15th December, and the trees will stay up for the next week, and therefore will be there for the School’s End of Term Service and the Jim Causley concert on Friday 20th December. We will take the trees down on Saturday 21st December so as to be ready to decorate the Church for Christmas on Monday 23rd December.
Please do watch the Parish Link for more details on the Christmas Tree Festival, and do think about perhaps joining a group decorating a tree, or do one on your own; or maybe offering a couple of hours to help steward. If you aren’t able to do either, please just come along and enjoy the trees!
