It is 20 years since our first Christmas Tree Festival, and each year people say it continues to be as good as ever. “It’s is lovely! We are here every year” “Beautiful as always”
We were so pleased to be able to welcome not only the public over the three weekends, but also three of the local schools – two of which were able to bring along parents and carers to their respective end of term events. The young people did so well with their respective performances which brought great pleasure to all who were there.
It was also great to welcome Jess & Richard Arrowsmith with Jo Maher for their annual Christmas concert of traditional English Christmas songs and carols.
All these events bring people into the church, some of whom would not normally have entered the door. It is good that we are able to welcome people from all walks of life and make them feel comfortable in, for some of them, an unfamiliar place.
From the time the trees arrived on the 1st December until Christmas Day over 1200 people must have entered the church. Although this figure is estimated to be down on 2024 it certainly gave us time to have conversations with those who wished to talk and answer questions.
We also had three names put on the list of people interested in learning to ring the bells. This is very encouraging, and while it will be some time before they will be able to ring on their own, it is rewarding to have new people willing to learn this old tradition.
Each year there are people who are decorating a tree for the first time – there were quite a few this year, which adds another dimension to the displays as each comes up with different ideas, adding to the variety of the displays.
Another thing that was new this year was the display of wood work by the people of Oldbury Cottage Care Farm, the wooden bird box the Christmas tree and especially the kitchen roll holders were greatly admired, there were several requests to purchase them!
The many prayers on the Prayer Tree were brough to the altar at the carol service, which brought the whole event to it’s close.
Overall, it was a wonderful success and gave a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people. Added to this the event raised just over £2,300 with £580 being donated to the Mary Ann Evans Hospice.
We say a big thank you to all who have supported this event over the years and especially to all who have worked so hard to bring the festival to fruition. There are many tasks that need to be covered before, during and after the event that makes the event work so well.
Thank you everyone.
