Christmas Tree Festival at St Martin’s Church

Christmas Tree Festival at St Martin’s Church

7 More Image(s) In Gallery

St Martin’s Church in Castleton held a Christmas Tree Festival on Saturday (6 December).

The festival was held instead of the annual Christmas Fair as a way for the church to engage with the community a bit more.

Barry Wild, a reader at the church, said: “We wanted to do something different this year rather than our usual Christmas Fair so we thought doing the tree festival would be a good way to engage with the community and to get the community involved.”

On display were 27 decorated trees from businesses, community groups and schools.

Trees in the festival included those from NHS Walkers, Castleton Primary School and the Helen O’Grady Drama Group.

“We approached people to be part of the festival and what we have ended up with has been great. Every tree is individual and everyone has put so much effort in,” added Barry.

The Christmas Tree Festival started on Thursday (4 December) with a Christmas Wreath demonstration and a plant sale. Today saw a drama group presentation, balloon demonstration and sweet demonstration also take place.

Barry added: “The response has been really good. People seem to have really enjoyed it. If it raises as much money as the fairs usually do then we shall have to see but it has been nice to do something different.”